Trade data spat can be avoided in the future, Rini says
Trade data spat can be avoided in the future, Rini says
Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Minister of Industry and Trade Rini Soewandi said that wide
discrepancies in trade statistics between Indonesia and Singapore
should no longer occur in the future, due to harmonization of
customs procedures.
She said that all members of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) had agreed to adopt the eight-digit
harmonization system codes (HS Code) in 2004.
The HS Code system allows goods to be classified and
identified according to their specific types.
"Singapore will adopt the system as required by the ASEAN
customs policy. Thus, discrepancies in trade statistics between
the two countries can be avoided in the future," Rini told a
media conference on Sunday at the end of a two-day meeting here
of ASEAN economics ministers.
Singapore and Indonesia, along with Brunei, Cambodia, Laos,
Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, are
members of the regional grouping.
Last month, Rini revealed to the local press a huge
discrepancy in the bilateral trade figures, raising suspicions of
rampant smuggling and underinvoicing. Rini also strongly
complained about the unwillingness of Singapore to make public
its trade figures with Indonesia. The Singapore government had
many years supplied trade data to the Indonesian government, but
on a confidential basis.
But in a bid to end the month-long trade data spat, Singapore
Minister of Trade and Industry George Yeo sent a letter to Rini
last week saying that his government would make public the
bilateral trade statistics. He did not specify when publication
would start.
Rini said on Sunday that as a member of the World Trade
Organization, Singapore had an obligation to publish its trade
statistics with all its trading partners, including Indonesia.
She explained that Singapore's refusal to publish its trade
statistics with Indonesia was because it thought it was tied by
an agreement made by the former rulers of both countries.
However, she said, the agreement was never made official, as
there existed no written documents on it.
"I once tried to find the document, but it really does not
exist. It was more a verbal agreement. The Singapore government
regularly sends trade data to certain Indonesian officials
confidentially," said Rini.
Meanwhile, at the media conference, Brunei's Minister of
Industry and Primary Resources Abdul Rahman bin Dato Mohammad
Taib said that during the meeting members of ASEAN agreed to
cooperate in settling trade issues such as the rule of origin,
customs procedures, a disputes settlement mechanism and standard
and performance of goods and services.
Taib, who chaired the two-day meeting, explained that those
issues had been considered as hampering implementation of the
ASEAN free-trade area (AFTA) and would be discussed in more
detail at the upcoming ASEAN summit meeting in Bali in October.