No requirement for RI exports to pass S'pore

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The U.S. government has never required Indonesian agricultural products bound for the U.S. market to be shipped via Singapore for security inspection, a statement from the U.S. Embassy in Indonesia said, dismissing earlier media reports as erroneous.

"No new policy regarding U.S. imports of containerized agricultural products from Indonesia has been implemented, nor is any being contemplated," the statement said.

The U.S. Embassy was commenting on earlier reports that all agricultural products bound for the U.S. market had to undergo a container security check in Singapore in a bid to step up security against possible terrorism attacks.

The policy is feared to hurt the country's exports as it might bring additional costs, which would be borne by exporters.

The statement, however, said that any Indonesian cargo, both agricultural and nonagricultural, being shipped to the U.S. via Singapore would be subject to a prescreening process.

It explained that in January of this year, the U.S. Customs launched a new policy called the Container Security Initiative (CSI) to prevent containerized cargo from being exploited by terrorists in the wake of the Sept. 11 incident.

The U.S. Customs is focusing on 20 major foreign seaports worldwide in which 70 percent of all U.S.-bound sea containers go through. So far, 11 ports have joined the CSI. Singapore joined the CSI on June 4 of this year.

The statement said that Indonesian cargo shipped to the U.S. via Indonesian ports would be handled as before, but would be subject to additional scrutiny upon arrival at its destination.

The U.S. is the largest market for Indonesia's products, including agricultural goods. Indonesian agricultural exports include tea, coffee, shellfish, black pepper and rubber. In the 2002 fiscal year, which ran from October 2001 to September 2002, agricultural, fishery and forestry exports to the U.S. amounted to US$1.7 billion. Meanwhile, Indonesia's agricultural, fishery and forestry imports from the U.S. amounted to $872 million.

Aimed at advancing the security of sea cargo containers, the CSI includes using automated information to identify target high- risk containers and placing U.S customs inspectors at major foreign seaports to prescreen high-risk containers before arriving at U.S. ports.

Meanwhile, the Directorate General of Customs and Excise at the Ministry of Finance said it had no plans to follow in Singapore's footsteps.

"The government has no plans to follow Singapore because we have different interests," Susiwijono, the spokesman for the Directorate General of Customs and Excise, said. He did not provide any further details.