America Extends GSP Facility For Indonesia

Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi (Irfan Meidianto / VOI)

JAKARTA - Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said that the United States government officially extended the provision of Generalized System of Prefereces (GSP) facilities for Indonesia.

GSP is an import duty tariff exemption facility that is given unilaterally by the United States government to developing countries in the world.

"This decision was taken after the USTR conducted a review of the GSP facility for Indonesia for approximately 2.5 years since March 2018," said Retno in a virtual press conference, Sunday, November 1.

Retno said, the provision of the GSP facility is a form of strategic partnership between the two countries. This brings positive benefits to Indonesia and benefits US businesses.

"Hopefully we can continue to use this to strengthen our trade with the US. Strong trade between Indonesia and the US is expected to be a catalyst for increased investment between the two countries," said Retno.

Furthermore, Retno said that Indonesia's exports to the US from January to August 2020 reached US $ 11.8 billion. This figure has increased by almost 2 percent compared to the same period in 2019 amounting to US $ 11.6 billion.

"This increase occurred in the midst of a pandemic situation, and when US imports from around the world fell by 13 percent," said Retno.

Based on statistical data from the United States International Trade Commission (USITC), in 2019, Indonesia's exports using GSP reached 2.61 billion US dollars. This figure is equivalent to 13.1 percent of Indonesia's total exports to the US, namely US $ 20.1 billion.

Until August 2020, the export value of Indonesian GSP to the US was recorded at US $ 1.87 billion, an increase of 10.6 percent compared to the same period in the previous year.

"In the future, the two countries agreed to seek a more comprehensive and permanent discussion of trade partnerships between Indonesia and the US," he concluded.