TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Indonesia to send team to Washington to maintain GSP facility
Change Size
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, accompanied by a number of ministers, speaks at a ceremony for the first large-scale shipment of Los Angeles-bound exports at the Jakarta International Containers Terminal (JICT) at Tanjung Priok Port in North Jakarta on May 15. (Courtesy of/the Indonesia Port Corporations (IPC) )
T
he Indonesian government plans to send a negotiating team to Washington to try and maintain the 124 Indonesian products that enjoy facilities as stated in the country’s generalized system of preferences (GSP).
“We will send a negotiating team so that the GSP facilities can be maintained,” said the Trade Ministry’s international trade director general, Oke Nurwan, in Jakarta on Monday as reported by kontan.co.id.
Currently, the United States government is reviewing 124 Indonesian export products to see if they still deserve the GSP import tariff cut facility. The move was made due to the US trade deficit against Indonesia.
The GSP, under World Trade Organization guidelines, is usually granted by developed countries to their developing country trading partners.
Oke said the team, which will include officials from relevant ministries, would depart for Washington later this month.
Sofjan Wanandi, a special staff member to Vice President Jusuf Kalla, said the team would consist of officials from the Trade Ministry and Foreign Affairs Ministry because they were in the frontline when dealing with trade issues.
Indonesia has consistently recorded a trade surplus with the US. In 2017, Indonesia’s surplus amounted to US$9.67 billion, 9.89 percent higher than the $8.84 billion surplus recorded in 2016. From 2013 to 2017, Indonesia’s surplus with the US grew at a rate of 8.47 percent per year. (bbn)
