Coordinating Minister Airlangga Hopes IEU CEPA Negotiations Will Be Completed By The End Of 2023

Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto when meeting with FESI President Neil Narriman at the Coordinating Ministry for Economics Office, Jakarta, Thursday (15/6/2023). (ANTARA/HO-KemenkoEko Ekonomi/pri)

Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto hopes that negotiations on a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement between Indonesia and the European Union (Indonesia-European Union Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement/IEU-CEPA) will be completed by the end of 2023.

He said the IEU CEPA could increase trade and investment cooperation between Indonesia and the European Union, especially in the sports product industry sector which has a positive trend.

"Hopefully, the discussion of the substance of the IEU-CEPA negotiations can be completed by the end of this year, in accordance with the commitment of the two heads of state in bilateral meetings on the sidelines of a series of activities of the G7Outreach Summit in Hiroshima some time ago," said Airlangga in a statement reported by ANTARA, Saturday, June 17. Therefore, in a meeting with the Federation of European Sports Industry (FESI) delegation, he said FESI played an important role in accelerating the completion of the IEU-CEPA negotiations which will enter the 15th round in July.

The two parties also agreed to collaborate to develop a roadmap for improving the Indonesian sports product industry which can create millions of jobs for the community.

Coordinating Minister Airlangga also hopes that the industry of sports products currently spread across other Asian regions can diversify their supply chain by increasing investment in Indonesia so that the national economy can be leveraged.

Moreover, Indonesia has carried out a number of structural reforms to create good investment climates and facilitate the activities of business actors.

In the meeting with FESI President Neil Narriman and FESI Secretary General Jerome Pero, Coordinating Minister Airlangga hoped that FESI could convince EU business actors about the IEU CEPA which could facilitate cooperation between the private sectors of both parties, especially those engaged in the production of sports equipment.

"We really appreciate FESI's support for the Indonesian government for the reporting of goods industry in Indonesia, as well as the pressure and encouragement of FESI to the European Commission to jointly resolve the IEU-CEPA Negotiations," concluded Coordinating Minister Airlangga.