S'pore urged to include RI on trade partner list

S'pore urged to include RI on trade partner list

Sari P. Setiogi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Indonesian government has requested Singapore to
immediately include Indonesia on the city state's list of trade
partners.

Director General for International Cooperation at the Ministry
of Industry and Trade, Pos M. Hutabarat, said on Monday that
despite the fact that Indonesia was Singapore's fifth largest
export market, it was not included on Singapore's list of 150
trading partners.

"We haven't been listed as a Singaporean trade partner for
years. We now know that we are their fifth largest market, but we
are not listed ... This is not fair

"We will see if they (Singapore) will put us on their list
next month," he told The Jakarta Post.

Pos said that if Singapore did not put Indonesia on the list
by next month, the Indonesian government would launch an official
protest.

The request came after Singapore finally published last week
statistics on its trade with Indonesia, which for 30 years had
been kept secret, reportedly after a request by former president
Soeharto so that discrepancies arising from rampant smuggling
could be concealed.

Minister of Industry and Trade Rini MS Soewandi had previously
demanded the disclosure of the trade data to help curb smuggling.

Government sources estimate that some US$4 billion worth of
Indonesian goods are smuggled to Singapore every year.

According to the Singapore statistics, bilateral trade between
the two neighboring countries reached S$26.2 billion in 2003.