Jokowi Pesymistis Wins At WTO About Nickel, Wemendag Jerry: We Do The Best

Deputy Minister of Trade Jerry Sambuaga. (Photo: Doc. ANTARA)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) is pessimistic that Indonesia will win from the European Union's lawsuit to the World Trade Organization (WTO) regarding the ban on nickel ore exports.

In response to this, Deputy Minister of Trade (Wemendag) Jerry Sambuaga said his party would do their best to win the lawsuit.

"We will fight at all costs, at all costs. We will do our best. If I can say we hope for the rest, we are ready with any results," he told VOI, Wednesday, September 21.

Furthermore, Jerry said, the most important thing in this regard is how Indonesia has the independence to regulate its authority.

"Because this is a matter of policy, how do we regulate the authority of the government, that it gets disagreed on the international forum, that's indeed part of the global trade consensus. But the most important thing is that we have independence and we have solid authority to regulate what we have, including nickel," he said.

Moreover, said Jerry, currently, Indonesia is also developing a nickel downstream industry. This is in line with the direction of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi).

"How do we have sovereignty over the recourse that we have, in this case we follow the direction of the President, that the President said downstreaming must occur, that's his hope. Anyway, do your best," he said.

Regarding the steps taken if Indonesia loses at the WTO, Jerry is reluctant to comment further. He only emphasized that the government would prepare for the next step.

"I'm sure we will all be ready for whatever the result is, the important thing is that we fight. We show that we convey the arguments. Why are we doing this because there are arguments. We can be held accountable and that's our position, in my opinion, we are in a position to fight for it with all the efforts we can," he explained.

Quoted from CNBC, President Joko Widodo said, Indonesia is likely to lose a trade dispute with the European Union (EU) regarding the ban on nickel ore exports starting in 2020.

"It looks like we will lose at the WTO, but that's okay, the industry has been built," said Jokowi, his nickname.

However, despite the World Trade Organization's (WTO) decision regarding nickel ore exports, Jokowi will continue his plan to impose similar restrictions on exports of other raw commodities.