America Is More Active In Indo-Pacific, RI Aims For Economic Opportunities

JAKARTA - The United States (US) government through the United States Department of Commerce (US DOC) initiated the IPEF Ministerial Meeting (PTM) as a continuation of IPEF's 2nd PTM in Detroit, United States, which was held last May.

The virtual meeting took place this weekend chaired by the US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and was attended by representatives of the Government of 13 IPEF member countries who are generally Ministers of Foreign Affairs, as well as Minister of Trade and Industry. The Indonesian government was represented by the Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto.

Meanwhile, the meeting essentially discussed the completion target of Pilar II (Suppak Chain), Pillar III (Clean Energy) and Pillar IV (Adjust Economy) and steps to create tangible benefits from each of these pillars.

Secretary Raimondo said that the US Government has a target to finalize the pillar III and IV agreements to be launched at PTM IPEF in San Francisco in November 2023.

According to him, in pillar III program proposals include investment forums as a forum for establishing government engagement with the private sector, project preparations that provide project pipelines needed by each IPEF member country, and climate funds as support for financing clean energy projects.

"While pillar IV, the US emphasizes technical assistance programs and capacity building to create good governance," he said, quoted on Sunday, July 2.

On the same occasion, Coordinating Minister Airlangga expressed his appreciation for the positive developments in the IPEF negotiations and the importance of all IPEF members working hard to realize the US ambition target to complete all negotiations in Pillar III and IV.

"We reiterate that the Government of Indonesia intends to be an important part of the global supply chain, especially in mineral products," he said.

Airlangga explained, RI also supports the US vision to create high standards in all IPEF pillars so that IPEF members need to provide programs to support this.

"We together with India also emphasize the importance of financing affordable clean energy projects in the IPE III election," he said.

Similarly, the Minister of Trade and Industry of India, Piyush Goyal, appreciated the efforts of the United States (US) and other IPEF participant countries regarding the scheme or initiative to finance programs related to climate change mitigation.

However, Goyal reminded that the standard financing requirements for these programs are still too high.

"As a solution, a low-cost or no-cost financing scheme can be a priority, in order to avoid the dependence of IPEF participant countries on the private sector," he said.

In its closing, Secretary Raimondo reiterated US's commitment to realizing IPEF, the role and involvement of the private sector in IPEF, and appreciated the contribution and commitment of IPEF's participating countries to IPEF negotiations so far.

Also accompanying Coordinating Minister Airlangga in the meeting were the Deputy for Coordination of International Economic Cooperation, Edi Prio Pambudi, as Chief Negotiator of Indonesia for IPEF.