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House questions govt plan to sign free trade deals with Japan, EU
The government said the amendment of the ASEAN-Japan comprehensive economic partnership (AJCEP) would enable Indonesia to increase service exports to Japan.
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Members of the House Commission VI during a hearing with Trade Minister Agus Suparmanto on Jan. 30. (JP/mfp)
M
embers of the House of Representatives have questioned a government plan to sign free trade deals with a number of countries this year, saying that such initiatives could further increase imports.
During a hearing between the House Commission VI overseeing industrial, investment and business competition and Trade Minister Agus Suparmanto in Jakarta on Jan. 30, commission member Evita Nursanty questioned the urgency of the agreements.
“The government has so far signed 14 international agreements, but our trade volume and exports continued to decline somehow,” she added.
The government plans to sign protocol agreements that will pave the way for the amendment of the ASEAN-Japan comprehensive economic partnership (AJCEP), the Indonesia-European Free Trade Association (EFTA) comprehensive economic partnership agreements (IE-CEPA) and ASEAN agreement on electronic commerce (e-commerce).
The amendment will further allow the movement of natural persons (MNP) and the flow of investment between ASEAN and Japan under the AJCEP. Indonesia would, for example, open 48 of its service subsectors in exchange for access to 147 service subsectors in Japan.
The MNP refers to the temporary presence of individuals in another country in order to supply services such as business visitors, intracorporate transferees and contractual service suppliers.
Lawmakers feared that the amendment of such free trade agreements would further worsen the country’s trade deficit due to an increase in the flow of goods to Indonesia. This will also hurt local producers, they said.
