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Jokowi calls for wrapping up RI-Australia CEPA talks
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Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull (left) and President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo (center) greet participants of the Indonesia-Australia Interfaith Youth Dialogue on Saturday in Sydney. (JP/Anton Hermansyah)
P
resident Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has called for a conclusion to negotiations on the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IA CEPA).
The President spoke on the issue with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull during both the official meeting and the dinner at Turnbull’s residence, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said in Sydney on Saturday.
“Negotiations for the IA CEPA is more than 90 percent [complete], but there are a number of issues that remain to be discussed,” Retno said as reported by tempo.co. She added that negotiations would resume next month and were expected to be completed by the yearend.
According to Retno, Jokowi stressed during his meetings with Turnbull that the IA CEPA should provide mutual benefits for the two countries.
The bilateral negotiations were originally planned to conclude in November 2017, but the countries had failed to reach an agreement on a number of issues.
When they met again last December, they still could not settle their differences. “The text of the agreement is 94 to 95 percent complete, but because of some unsettled issues, we need to prolong negotiations,” Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita said in December.
Indonesian-Australian trade reached US$8.46 billion in 2016, with $3.19 billion in Australian exports to Indonesia and $5.26 billion in Indonesian exports to Australia. (bbn)
