To Make Trade 2 Countries More Smooth, Indonesia - China Create A Working Group

Minister of Trade, M. Lutfi. (Photo: Doc. Ministry of Trade)

JAKARTA - Indonesia and China agreed to enhance trade cooperation, one of which is done with the establishment of a working group on promotion of smooth trade (WGPST).

This was agreed when Trade Minister Muhammad Lutfi and Chinese Trade Minister Wang Wentao held a virtual bilateral meeting to discuss several trade issues of common interest, among them related to the export of Indonesia's flagship products to China.

"This bilateral meeting between Indonesia and China discussed several efforts to increase trade and measures to strengthen trade cooperation between the two countries. The concrete step of the effort is marked by the signing of terms of reference (TOR) for the establishment of WGPST," said the Minister of Trade through an official statement in Jakarta, quoted from Antara, Friday, April 9.

The signing of the TOR was carried out by Acting Director General of International Trade Negotiations of the Ministry of Trade of the Republic of Indonesia Kasan and Director General of the Asian Department of the Chinese Ministry of Trade Peng Gang.

The first meeting of the working group in question is planned to take place as soon as this year.

WGPST is a bilateral cooperation forum between Indonesia and China that aims to strengthen the strategic partnership between the two countries in the field of trade.

Structurally, WGPST is under the framework of the High Level Economic Dialogue forum coordinated by the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs.

Based on data from the Central Bureau of Statistics, the total trade of the two countries in 2020 was recorded at USD71.41 billion. From this value, Indonesia's exports to China amounted to 31.78 billion US dollar and Indonesian imports from China amounted to 39.63 billion US dollar.