Minister Of Trade Budi Santoso: Government Prepares Alternative Markets To Anticipate The Impact Of Iran-Israeli War

JAKARTA - The Minister of Trade (Mendag) Budi Santoso stated that the government has prepared a number of alternative markets to maintain export stability amid global uncertainty due to the Iran-Israeli war.

"Our hope is that it will not be affected, because we are preparing alternative markets. We are opening up many new markets," Budi said when met at Gadjah Mada University (UGM) Campus, Sleman, DI Yogyakarta, quoted by Antara, Friday, June 20.

According to Budi, the government has completed various strategic trade negotiations to expand export access to non-traditional areas.

Some of them are the Indonesia-United Arab Emirates Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IUAE-CEPA), the Indonesia-Elimate Economic Union Free Trade Area (I-EAEU FTA), and trade agreements with Tunisia.

"The IUAE-CEPA and I-EAEU FTA negotiations have been completed. Tunisia has also been completed this month. Those are all the big markets that we can enter," he said.

This step, according to Budi, is a form of anticipation of potential supply disruptions or requests from markets affected by conflicts.

By expanding the trade partner network, the government hopes that Indonesia's exports will be maintained despite geopolitical tensions in the Middle East region.

Based on data from the Ministry of Trade, Budi said, Indonesia's exports from January to April 2025 continued to grow by 6.65 percent compared to the same period last year.

That figure shows that until now there has not been a significant impact from the conflict on national trade performance.

"Our exports from January to April rose 6.65 percent. So, from the statistics there are no problems. Hopefully in the future it will also remain safe," he said.

Budi also hopes that the Iran-Israeli conflict will soon subside so that global trade activities will return smoothly.

"Hopefully the war will also be over, so everything will run smoothly again," said the Trade Minister.