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Beauty and the beast of trade agreement
The beauty of a trade agreement lies in its hypothetical win-win and mutual benefits for the countries involved. The beauty could turn into the beast should a country fail to manage benefits and costs once an agreement is entered into.
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Illustration of trade word. (Shutterstock/File)
T
he beauty of a trade agreement lies in its hypothetical win-win and mutual benefits for the countries involved. The beauty could turn into the beast should a country fail to manage benefits and costs once an agreement is entered into. This premise also applies for Indonesia, which is currently intensifying efforts to conclude more trade agreements, adding to the eight implemented agreements bilaterally and under the ASEAN framework.
Indonesia has concluded three new bilateral trade agreements with Chile, Australia and European Free Trade Area (EFTA) countries. Negotiations with the European Union are under way and so are negotiations with some African countries.
The negotiations with South Korea will be reactivated, and the talks with Peru and Russia will be initiated. Since 2012, Indonesia and other 15 parties of the five ASEAN Plus One FTAs have been struggling to conclude the prolonging negotiations for a Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
Trade agreements — in the simplest form of preferential trade agreement, wider coverage of free trade agreement, up to the deep and far reaching agreement of comprehensive economic partnership — are aimed at creating free trade amongst the parties.
