Ministry to work on trade facilitation, transparency

Zakki P. Hakim, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

The Ministry of Trade is focusing on improving trade facilitation, foreign trade policies and good governance as among measures to boost the country's exports.

The ministry's Director General of Foreign Trade Diah Maulida said on Friday that on top of the list was addressing high-cost economy issues, particularly at seaports.

"Although ports are not mainly the responsibility of the trade ministry, we will help facilitate measures to cut costs at ports," she said at a media luncheon.

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade is responsible for the country's exports, imports and trade facilitation.

Diah, who was installed last month, said that in implementing good governance, and thus avoiding moral hazards, the ministry would gradually move to paperless services.

"We will use online services that would reduce the number of face-to-face encounters between businesspeople and officials," she said.

The ministry is currently testing an automation system of certification of origin applications in Jakarta, the Cakung bonded zone in East Jakarta and Batam and is collecting data on applications in 13 other provinces.

The certificates state the percentage of local content within a product. It is usually needed to comply with the rule of origin, regulating that a product with a certain percentage of local content may enjoy import duty cuts in certain destination countries.

Diah said the ministry would be more transparent especially in producing ministerial regulations concerning trade policies.

"We will invite and consult with all stakeholders first before enacting any trade-related ministerial regulations," she said, adding that for the moment the media would continue to be left out of the process.

According to Diah, less than 6 percent of the 11,471 products grouped in the Harmonized System have their imports regulated, monitored or banned. Meanwhile, about 2 percent of products have their exports regulated.

"Eventually, the list of regulated items will be reduced, although of course some will remain on the list," she said.

Internationally, countries monitor and ban the trade of several goods based on considerations of safety, security, health, environment and moral hazards, she said.

However, Indonesia had two additional considerations: protecting domestic industries and prioritizing the interests of local farmers.