EU, Indonesia sign air transport accord

The EU and Indonesia signed here on Wednesday an aviation agreement to develop future relations between the two sides, the European Commission announced in a statement Thursday . The agreement represents an important step towards strengthening aviation relations and enhancing overall cooperation with Indonesia, while encouraging traffic between the EU and Indonesia. Air transport is crucial for relations between the EU and Indonesia, linking people, cultures and businesses, noted the statement. This agreement will put the bilateral air services agreements between 19 EU Member States and Indonesia on a sound legal footing by ensuring compliance with EU legislation, it noted. Most importantly, it will remove nationality restrictions in bilateral air services agreements between EU Member States and Indonesia. It will thereby allow any EU airline to operate flights between Indonesia and any EU Member State where a bilateral agreement with Indonesia on air traffic rights already exists.