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RI to resume talks on trade deal with EU amid Jokowi European tour

Indonesia expects the scope of a trade deal with the EU to be agreed during President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s ongoing six-day visit to Europe

Khoirul Amin (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Tue, April 19, 2016

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RI to resume talks on trade deal with EU amid Jokowi European tour

I

ndonesia expects the scope of a trade deal with the EU to be agreed during President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s ongoing six-day visit to Europe.

Jokowi is scheduled to meet with leaders of the European Council, the European Parliament and the European Commission, with whom he will discuss the so-called Indonesia-EU comprehensive partnership agreement (CEPA), during his visit to the continent from April 17 to 23.

The scope agreed, the two parties will be able to resume talks on the CEPA, which is expected to help boost Indonesia’s exports and economic growth.

A so-called “scoping paper”, which determines the intended scope of the partnership agreement, requires the approval of both sides before negotiations, which have stalled for years, can continue.

“We hope that this scoping paper can be immediately agreed as a basis to resume CEPA negotiations,” Trade Minister Thomas Lembong, who is accompanying the President on his European trip, said in a statement.

Thomas, who carried out a similar grand tour of Europe earlier this month, said that Indonesia would convey its responses to the EU’s counterdraft of a proposed scoping paper.

The government addressed 14 issues in its own scoping paper, including trade in goods, customs and trade facilitation, technical regulations, trade in service and investment, public procurement and intellectual property rights.

It also covers competition policy, transparency of regulations, dispute settlements and trade and sustainable development, Thomas said.

Indonesia-EU CEPA negotiations were initiated in 2011, but the discussion on the scoping paper has hung in the balance since the latest government transition in Indonesia.

The partnership, if implemented, is forecast to add 9.2 billion euros to the value of Indonesia’s exports and 1.3 percent growth to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

Under Jokowi’s administration, the government aims to conclude the agreement in two years.

The EU has in the meantime concluded a CEPA with Vietnam and is in the process of drawing one up with Malaysia.

Mahmud Syaltout, an international trade law and policy expert at the University of Indonesia (UI), commented that the negotiations might be tougher than initially thought as the bloc was currently facing pressures regarding its composition.

“It looks harder now. The crisis in Europe isn’t over yet and there has been a discourse regarding Britain’s exit from the union, followed by rumors of Spain wanting to do the same,” Mahmud said on Monday.

The UK, the second-largest economy in the EU, is set to hold a referendum on whether Britain should remain in the union on June 23.

In addition, the EU is also concerned about the Indonesian government’s decision to revoke its timber legality verification system (SVLK) certification requirement for small and medium exporters.

President Jokowi, along with a number of high-ranking officials in his administration, is leading his first European visit as President, visiting Germany, the UK, the Netherlands and Belgium before returning to Indonesia on April 23.

Germany, which is the first stop on the tour, witnessed the signing of memorandums of understanding (MoUs) worth in total US$875 between Indonesian and German businesses, according to the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin).

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