Thai, RP to ease limits on Indonesian imports

Thai, RP to ease limits on Indonesian imports

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government said on Monday that both Thailand and the
Philippines had promised to ease restrictions on several
Indonesian products entering their home markets.

Budi Dharmadi, director of regional cooperation at the
ministry of trade and industry told The Jakarta Post that the
promise was made after Indonesia filed complaints with the
respective governments during a meeting of the ASEAN Free Trade
Area (AFTA) in Bangkok last week.

"We asked them to review the non tariff policy because it is
in conflict with the implementation of the ASEAN free trade
scheme," Budi said.

The government earlier alleged that three of the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries - Thailand, Malaysia
and the Philippines - had been unfairly blocking the export of a
number of Indonesian products.

Thailand imposed dumping duties on Indonesia-made float glass
products while the Philippine government implemented safeguard
measures to protect their own products against competition with
Indonesian products.

Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines are among the six
original members of the 10-nation ASEAN grouping that have agreed
to implement AFTA.

The four newer ASEAN members, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia and
Vietnam, meanwhile, are allowed to delay opening up their markets
until between the years 2006 and 2010.

Under AFTA, which came into effect on Jan.1, 2002, the import
tariffs on almost all goods traded among the six founding members
including cement and float glass products have been cut to
between zero and five percent.

Budi said that these issues would be further discussed at the
upcoming ASEAN Senior Economic Officials Meeting (SEOM) in
Yogyakarta next month.