Jakarta. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) recently gave Indonesia the roadmap that lays out the process that Jakarta has to go through before it can join the rich country club.

OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann gave the roadmap to senior minister Airlangga Hartarto in Paris on Thursday local time. A copy of the roadmap shows that Indonesia will need to undergo in-depth reviews by the OECD substantive committees. According to the document, there are 26 technical committees that will do the review -- some will check on whether Indonesia has done structural reforms to drive inclusive and sustainable growth. Other policy areas include environmental protection, governance, and anti-corruption measures. 

“[The OECD] represents 80 percent of the global trade and investment. A membership to the OECD and the group’s standards are pivotal to ensuring an inclusive and sustainable global economy. Becoming an OECD member will help Indonesia to strengthen its constitutional commitment to take part in the global order, advance freedom, lasting peace, and social justice,” Airlangga said at the handover ceremony, as quoted by a ministerial press statement.

The adoption of the roadmap officially upgraded Indonesia’s status from only a key partner to the OECD also being the group’s candidate member. Argentina also received its accession roadmap on the same day, thus joining other existing accession candidates such as Brazil, Bulgaria, Croatia, Peru, and Romania.

“Indonesia has gone through a remarkable economic reform, development and growth journey over the past two decades. Our cooperation has continued to develop and strengthen throughout that period, with Indonesia as a key partner since 2007, with the establishment of the Southeast Asia Regional Program in 2014, the establishment of our Jakarta office in 2015 and through our successive joint work programs,” Cormann was quoted as saying in a separate press release, commenting on the recently adopted accession roadmap. 

Applying for an OECD membership is a long process. Following the technical reviews and other discussions, Indonesia will have to submit a final statement, in which it pledges to accept OECD’s regulations and all substantive legal instruments. The OECD Council --the group’s decision-making body which includes ambassadors from member countries-- will then cast a vote on whether Indonesia can join the group. Indonesia needs everyone in the council to approve its membership. 

There is no deadline for completion of the accession processes, meaning it depends on the pace at which Indonesia can adjust to align with OECD's standards.

The Indonesian government claimed that Cormann would be visiting the country in end-May to meet President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo. The OECD secretary-general will also be seeing President-Elect Prabowo Subianto. Indonesia becomes the first Southeast Asian country to be an OECD candidate member. It will also be the group’s third Asian member after Japan and South Korea.

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