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.