EU to cut aid to Indonesia in 2014

Jakarta, May 1 (Xinhua-ANI): A senior European Union (EU) official said here on Tuesday that EU will cut aid to Indonesia in the fields of education, good governance, climate change, and trade investment in 2014, a local media reported.

"We trust the Indonesian government has a good policy in education. Indonesia has allocated 20 percent of state budget to education and the impact is that the rank of Indonesian education has gone up from lower to lower-middle. So European Union will cut aid to Indonesia particularly in education," Julian Wilson, European Union Representative to ASEAN and EU Ambassador to Indonesia and Brunei Darussalam, said here.

He stated that the EU would reallocate the funds to support education in poor countries in Africa, adding that the aid was in line with Millennium Development Goals.

"But I don't know how much aid to Indonesia will be cut. However, the EU will continue providing aids in three areas," Wilson said as quoted by the Antara news agency.

He noted that the EU had allocated 500 million to four sectors - - education, good governance, climate change, and trade investment-in Indonesia during 2007-08. The highest allocation, of 350 million Euro, was to allocated to education sector, according to him.

"Indonesia is an example of the success of trade investment. The trade volume between EU and Indonesia is also increasing. This year, total trade between the EU and Indonesia increased by 23 percent," Wilson said.

He said he hoped that the relationship between EU and Indonesia will be better in all sectors in the future. (Xinhua-ANI)