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ere days after the Trade Ministry was criticized by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo for the country’s poor export value, Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukito responded by setting a higher export target for this year.

Enggartiasto revised the ministry’s 2018 export target to 11 percent from the previous 5 to 7 percent. He said he would meet the target by intensifying efforts to open trade with “non-traditional” partners and cutting red tape.

He claimed the revised target had also been prompted by the optimistic outlook of a global economic recovery.

“Considering that the global economy is showing signs of recovery, and given our existing approaches — though trade agreements have yet to be signed — as well as our counter trade initiatives, I have set the [2018] export target at 11 percent,” he said on Friday as part of the closing speech of a three-day working meeting held in Jakarta.

At the meeting’s opening on Wednesday, President Jokowi slammed the ministry for Indonesia’s poor export performance and its lack of trade promotions overseas.

The country’s overall exports rose 12.6 percent — higher than the initial target of 5.6 percent —to US$ 168.73 billion in 2017, from $145.2 billion in the previous year.

Despite the increase, Indonesia’s exports remain below that of its ASEAN peers, with Thailand recording $236.69 billion in exports, and Malaysia and Vietnam posting $219.45 billion and $213.77 billion, respectively, over the same period.

“We are losing to Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam. If we continue like this, we will be defeated by Cambodia and Laos,” Jokowi said on Wednesday.

Enggartiasto seemed confident of the ministry’s ability to achieve double-digit trade growth this year. But whether it could surpass the trade value of neighboring countries was a different matter. He assured that he would meet the target with the help of, among others, several trade agreements to be completed this year.

These include the Indonesia-European Union Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), the Indonesia-Australia CEPA and Indonesia-Turkey CEPA, among others.

However, Enggartiasto’s belief that the trade agreements could jack up exports was criticized by economic analysts.

Center of Reform on Economics (CORE) Indonesia executive director Mohammad Faisal pointed out that in order to boost exports, Indonesia needed to boost the competitiveness of its manufacturing industry.

To do this, the government needs to prioritize the industry’s development in the same way it emphasizes infrastructure development, he told The Jakarta Post.

He further said that additional trade agreements would not have a greater impact on exports, but would instead drive imports.

“If we evaluate all the free trade agreements the government has signed in the past 10 years, none have been able to boost exports significantly,” he said.

Mahmud Syaltout, chief analyst of ANP Insight and lecturer at the Paramadina Graduate School of Diplomacy, emphasized that businesspeople as well as the government must improve their market intelligence skills so they could better promote Indonesian products overseas.

“Our international market assessments were weak compared to other countries’ like China, Vietnam or Thailand,” he said, adding that businesspeople usually did not know in detail what products to sell to which countries and at what price, and so on.

Enggartiasto acknowledged the slow progress of negotiating the aforementioned trade agreements, as the process can be hampered by the “sectoral interests” of different ministries. The issue will be discussed at an upcoming meeting led by Vice President Jusuf Kalla, he added.

“Why has it been so hard to realize the [trade] agreements for the past seven or eight years? Because, first, the sectoral ego among state institutions remains high,” Enggartiasto said.

He said the meeting aimed at identifying and revising regulations seen to impede trade negotiations, and also turn the prevailing laws of Indonesia’s ASEAN neighbors into a benchmark for regional best practices. (kmt)