Trade Minister Zulhas Hopes UAE Becomes A Hub To Enter The Middle East Market

Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan

JAKARTA - Minister of Trade (Mendag) Zulkifli Hasan hopes that Indonesia can continue to increase trade with the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Currently, he said, Indonesia already has a comprehensive agreement in the form of an Indonesia-United Arab Emirates Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IUAE CEPA).

This was conveyed by the Minister of Trade Zulhas in a bilateral meeting between Indonesia and the United Emirates in front of the State Minister for Foreign Trade Affairs PEA Thani Bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi.

Zulhas, as Zulkifli Hasan is familiarly called, said the government had also issued five related technical regulations for the implementation of the IUAE CEPA, namely the Minister of Finance Regulation (PMK) on the Determination of Import Duty Tariffs, PMK on Procedures for Imposing Import Fees on Imported Goods, and Regulation of the Minister of Trade (Permendag) Number 28 of 2023 concerning Provisions for the Origin of Goods and Provisions for Issuing Certificates of Origin for Indonesian Goods.

In addition, Permendag Number 29 of 2023 concerning Policy for the Implementation of Tariff Rate Quota (Tariff Rate Quota) for Imports of Certain Goods and Regulation of the Minister of Industry Number 22 of 2023 concerning the Utilization of Tariff Level Quota for Imports of Certain Plastic Raw Materials.

"Therefore, we hope that our trade with the UAE can increase and we hope that our UAE will become our hub to enter the Middle East to Saudi Arabia to other central eastern countries," he said, in Jakarta, Sunday, September 3.

At the meeting, Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan also suggested that a Joint Committee (JCM) meeting be held at the Senior Officials and certain Committees (Conmitt for the Trade of Goods and Islamic Economic Committees) between the two countries immediately. The goal is for the implementation of the IUAE CEPA to run smoothly.

With the implementation of the new IUEA CEPA, there are a number of technical issues that need to be resolved by the two countries immediately. For this reason, Indonesia proposes to PEA to immediately hold a Joint Committee (JCM) meeting at the Senior Officials and Certain Committees (The Islamic Goods and Economic Committee) between the two countries to resolve technical issues to ensure the smooth implementation of approval," he said.

Zulhas also said that Indonesia continues to strive to implement the results of the 12th Ministerial Conference (KTM) of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

"I support the successful holding of the 13th WTO Ministerial Conference (Ministerial Conference) which will be held in February 2024 in Abu Dhabi," he explained.