Indonesia aims to establish FTAs with key trading partners<\/p>\n
Adianto P Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The government will intensify bilateral talks with Japan, the
\nUnited States, China, India and Australia this year in an attempt
\nto seek the possibility of entering into free trade agreements
\nwith these countries, according to a senior official at the
\nMinistry of Industry and Trade.<\/p>\n
Tri Marjoko, director for bilateral cooperation at the
\nministry, said on Monday that such a move was also aimed at
\npreventing buyers from these five countries from shifting their
\norders from Indonesia.<\/p>\n
\"We will focus our efforts more on FTA talks with these five
\ncountries to prevent them from shifting orders from Indonesia,\"
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
Under the planned free trade mechanism, the country's market
\nwould have to be fully opened up to products from the trading
\npartner countries.<\/p>\n
Countries involved in FTAs must also slash import tariffs on
\ntheir products, making their products cheaper.<\/p>\n
According to the World Trade Organization (WTO) secretariat,
\ncurrently there are some 250 FTAs in existence worldwide.<\/p>\n
\"We must follow the current global trend on free trade so that
\nwe'll not be left far behind, especially from our neighboring
\ncountries,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Indonesia has so far just entered into an FTA with members of
\nthe Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) under its
\nASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) scheme.<\/p>\n
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
\nMyanmar, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam.<\/p>\n
A couple of the ASEAN members, however, have already entered
\ninto FTAs with countries outside the region.<\/p>\n
Singapore, for example, has inked FTAs with the United States,
\nJapan, Australia, New Zealand and Chile. Singapore is also now in
\nformal talks with Canada, China and Mexico for similar
\nagreements.<\/p>\n
Thailand is also in talks with India, Japan, Australia, New
\nZealand, South Africa, Brazil, Croatia, the Czech Republic and
\nRussia.<\/p>\n
Tri said that his office would conduct a number of meetings
\nwith the five countries this year.<\/p>\n
\"We will meet with top officials from Japan in August to
\nfurther discuss the planned FTA between Indonesia and Japan,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The possibility of an FTA deal was reached during the meeting
\nbetween President Megawati Soekarnoputri and Japanese Prime
\nMinister Junichiro Koizumi in Japan last month.<\/p>\n
Japan currently has a free trade agreement with Singapore and
\nis in discussions on similar agreements with the Philippines and
\nThailand.<\/p>\n
Japan is Indonesia's second largest trading partner after the
\nUnited States with Indonesia's non-oil and gas exports to Japan
\nreaching US$6.3 billion and Indonesia's non-oil and gas imports
\nfrom that country totaling $4.2 billion last year.<\/p>\n
Japan is also the largest foreign investor in Indonesia and
\nthe country's largest creditor.<\/p>\n
\"We hope we will reach a final agreement on the FTA with Japan
\nnext year,\" he said.<\/p>\n
With the United States, said Tri, the governments of the two
\ncountries had conducted surveys to determine the products to be
\nincluded in the planned FTA.<\/p>\n
The United States is Indonesia's biggest export market,
\naccounting for around 16 percent of its total export sales.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/indonesia-aims-to-establish-ftas-with-key-trading-partners-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}