Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Presidential spokesman Dino Patti Djalal said he was optimistic the European Union (EU) will lift its ban on Indonesian airline flights in its air space after the intensive and sustained lobbying the government had done with the European Commission.
"The government is continuing its lobbying to ensure that a technical meeting next January will produce a positive decision for Indonesia," Dino said after accompanying President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at a marriage ceremony here on Thursday.
The president acted as a witness in the marriage of the third son of Rachmawati Soekarnoputri (daughter of founding president Soekarno) at the Jakarta Convention Center.
The European Union had since July 6, 2007 banned 51 Indonesian airlines from flying in the air space of 29 European countries.
For a week early this month, an EU auditors` team had been observing Indonesian aviation conditions and the team`s findings were evaluated by the European Commission on November 19-22, 2007.
The result of the evaluation was that Indonesian national airlines remained subject to the ban while the airlines of a number of other countries were allowed to fly to Europe again.
Dino said the Indonesian government had also done its lobbying when European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso met President Yudhoyono at the State Palace not long ago.
"At the time, Barroso promised to speed up the process to resolve the matter. The commitment of both sides to normalize Indonesian flight services to Europe soon was also discussed," he said.
He said the European Union had not promised to lift the ban in November 2007 because it still needed to continue its studies and hold a technical meeting in January 2008.
"We really want the normalization process to be accelerated and the flight ban lifted at the beginning of next year. If by that time the ban has not yet been revoked, we can lodge a protest," Dino said.
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