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Indonesia takes part in IPEF Ministerial Conference to improve worldwide trade
The Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) Ministerial Conference was held in Detroit, Michigan, the United States, starting on Friday. The two-day event is a ministerial meeting between 14 partner countries that have joined the IPEF, which represents more than 40 percent of the world economy and 28 percent of trade in goods and services globally
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he Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) Ministerial Conference was held in Detroit, Michigan, the United States, starting on Friday. The two-day event is a ministerial meeting between 14 partner countries that have joined the IPEF, which represents more than 40 percent of the world economy and 28 percent of trade in goods and services globally.
Indonesia was represented by Coordinating Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto. Previously, the IPEF had also set a series of bilateral meetings with several ministers from Indonesia's main partner countries on Friday. This year's IPEF meeting was the second meeting after the first was held last September in Los Angeles, California, the United States.
The meeting was opened on May 27 by Ambassador Katherine Tai, United States Trade Representative (USTR) and Gina Raimondo, United States Secretary of Commerce. The official event followed a series of preliminary meetings and activities the day before.
There are four main pillars in the IPEF, which are trade, supply chains, clean economy and fair economy. In her opening remarks, Ambassador Tai focused on the first pillar and expressed her hope that the member countries could work together on a few chapters before November of this year. Some of the chapters in Pillar I include trade facilitation, technical assistance and economic cooperation, good regulatory practices and service domestic regulations.
"Indonesia is ready to participate in the discussion on critical minerals as one of the priority discussions in Pillar I of IPEF," said Airlangga.
His hope that the topic of critical minerals could be included in the discussion was also supported by other members, including seven ASEAN countries that were in attendance. Moreover, Indonesia's proposal also received a positive response from Australia.
Ambassador Tai seemed to stand united with the request, as she expressed that the United States also wanted to explore the issue of critical minerals in negotiations and hoped that IPEF member countries would play an active role in that. Through IPEF, the United States said it hoped ensure the availability of critical minerals among member countries.
The discussion also touched upon the development of global supply chains within the Indo-Pacific region in order to increase economic growth and global energy security. This year, Indonesia’s stance is spotlighted, as the country took over the ASEAN chairmanship.
Airlangga said that together with the ASEAN member countries that are also members of the IPEF, Indonesia would support efforts to increase free and open trade and investment through the IPEF Cooperation framework.
"As chair of ASEAN in 2023, Indonesia's mission is to achieve sustainable and inclusive growth in the long term, and the realization of this IPEF will strengthen efforts to achieve this goal,” he said.
Airlangga also said Indonesia had offered the Bali Initiative for Tangible Benefits, which is a joint commitment and initiative by a number of IPEF member countries. This initiative contains practical and concrete steps to build the capabilities needed to realize the goals set forth by the alliance.
The Bali Initiative was realized on the sidelines of the second set of IPEF negotiations in Bali in March of this year, and was jointly drafted by the seven IPEF member countries, which are Brunei Darussalam, Fiji, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam.
Concluding the meeting, the United States government expressed hoped that the legal review of the IPEF Pillar I agreement could be completed soon and that the participating countries could continue to realize a constructive and inclusive negotiating process.
After the meeting in Detroit, the agenda for the next IPEF meeting is the fourth round of negotiations, which are scheduled to take place in Busan, South Korea, in July.
