Indonesia sticks to free trade exemptions

Indonesia sticks to free trade exemptions

HAMBURG (Reuter): Indonesia needed to exclude 26 agricultural products from tariff reductions as part of the implementation of the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA), Minister of Agriculture Sjarifudin Baharsjah said.

Speaking to Reuters during a visit here, he said the products including rice, sugar, milk and fruit, were grown mainly by smallholders which needed special protection.

"We have to bear the smallholders in mind, these are sensitive products," he said.

"But we'll look at it in a comprehensive way to meet international free trade rules," he said.

The products would be excluded from the Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) scheme where other ASEAN countries also have listed sensitive products.

Under the CEPT scheme, ASEAN members must reduce tariffs to a maximum of five percent the year 2003.

The minister said Indonesia might not meet this deadline in the sensitive products but it might do so under another deadline for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum by 2020.

"We're taking great steps to adjust our agricultural sector accordingly," he said.