Trade relief package comes in June

Trade relief package comes in June

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A preliminary decision by the United States Congress on
Indonesia's proposal for post-tsunami trade relief is expected to
come in June, says an official at the Indonesian Embassy in
Washington.

"Congress will gather comments from all stakeholders regarding
the preliminary decision expected to be issued in June," Iman
Pambagyo, the embassy's commercial attache, said here on Friday
after a bilateral trade meeting between the U.S. and Indonesia,
adding that the latter officially submitted the proposal to the
U.S. government on March 7.

According to Iman, four measures have been proposed:
preferential cuts in import duties, suspension on all Indonesian
dumping and subsidy cases, the provision of capacity-building
facilities in the area of sanitary and phitosanitary (SPS) and
granting the status of "Qualifying Industrial Zone" for local
bonded zones.

He said Indonesia proposed preferential tariff treatment for
207 detailed groups of products, on which import duties range
between 2 percent and 7.5 percent.

"We handpicked the product categories, prioritizing those with
significant export value," he said.

The scheme is formally known as the Generalized System of
Preference (GSP) program, under which developed countries grant
preferential duty cuts for selected products from developing
countries.

Iman said developed countries usually granted capacity
building facilities through training.

"SPS capacity building is very important for us, especially
for our agriculture and fisheries sector. We surely want to have
healthier products, not only for our export customers but
especially for fellow Indonesians," he said.

Furthermore, a Qualifying Industrial Zone status would allow
local bonded zones such as Batam to play a role in preferential
trade agreements formed between the U.S. and any neighboring
countries, in this case Singapore.

Aside from the U.S., the European Union also offers a similar
GSP scheme. The EU has so far granted trade preference only for
footwear products. Indonesia is still expecting an EU decision on
treatment for local tuna, shrimp and textiles, among other
things.

The world poured millions in aid into countries devastated by
the Dec. 26 tsunami that claimed over 280,000 lives. The more
developed countries have also offered some trade relief.