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Indonesia and United Arab Emirates reach trade pact
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President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo shakes hand with United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan in Abu Dhabi on July 1, 2022. (Presidential Secretariat Press Bureau/Laily Rachev)
I
ndonesia and the United Arab Emirates on Friday signed a free trade agreement, strengthening economic ties between Southeast Asia's largest economy and the major oil producing Gulf state.
The accord, reached during a visit by Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to Abu Dhabi, will remove or sharply reduce duties on most goods traded between the Muslim countries.
The UAE economy ministry said Indonesian palm oil, food products, fashion wear and Emirati petrochemicals, rubber products, plastics and steel would benefit from reduced or eliminated tariffs.
The accord includes chapters on services, investments, intellectual property rights and mutual recognition of each others' halal certification, Indonesia's trade ministry said.
The text of the agreement was not released and still needs to be ratified by both countries, which is largely procedural in the autocratic UAE but could take months in democratic Indonesia.
Indonesia's main exports to the UAE are palm oil, jewelry and precious metals, while Emirati exports to Indonesia are mostly petroleum gasses and non-crude oils, iron and non-alloy steel, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity.
Oil rich UAE has forged closer trade ties with Indonesia as part of an ambition to double its own economy to $816 billion by the end of the decade, in part by signing free trade agreements.
