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RI looks to conclude trade agreements with Canada, Tunisia, Peru this year
The Trade Ministry aims to conclude agreements with a range of countries this year in its endeavor to diversify trade relationships.
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Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan prepares to address the press in a briefing at the ministry in Jakarta on Jan. 4, 2024. (The Jakarta Post/Deni Ghifari)
T
he government is looking to conclude free trade agreements (FTAs) with Canada, Peru and Tunisia, as well as other countries, to strengthen Indonesia’s trade relationships with new markets.
Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan said in a press briefing on Thursday that the government was looking to wrap up FTA negotiations with those three countries this year.
“Africa, […] Eastern Europe, the markets are big,” said Zulkifli, after revealing that Indonesia was also planning to conclude FTAs with countries in said regions in 2024.
Intended to remove trade barriers between the two countries, the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) negotiations with Canada kicked off in June 2021.
According to the Canadian government’s website, the two countries had gone through six rounds of talks, with the latest taking place in October 2023. A seventh round “is anticipated” to take place in early 2024.
The CEPA negotiation with Peru, on the other hand, commenced relatively recently, in August of last year.
Indonesia exported US$331 million worth of goods to Peru from January through November 2023, according to data from Statistics Indonesia (BPS), while it imported a mere $72.61 million worth of goods over the same period, translating into a trade surplus of $259 million.
