Ministry Of Foreign Affairs And Apindo Expect IEU-CEPA Negotiations To Be Completed Soon

Export-import illustration. (Wikimedia Commons/Captain Albert E. Theberge, NOAA Corps (ret.)

JAKARTA - The Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Indonesian Employers' Association (Apindo) hope that the Indonesia-European Union Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IEU-CEPA) negotiations between Indonesia and the European Union can be completed soon, to increase product competitiveness and investment between the two parties.

The Director General of European America, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia Umar Hadi, said that CEPA facilitates the competitiveness of Indonesian products in Europe, as well as the better competitiveness of European products in Indonesia.

"CEPA has not been completed, it does not mean that the trade cannot," said Ambassador Umar Hadi, in a press statement in Jakarta, Friday, September 27.

"We have CEPA expectations that we can solve, because 19 rounds have been carried out for many years, negotiations have been carried out, there are high expectations, great hopes can be completed. We feel like we have given so many concessions, we hope that the European Union has the same spirit," he explained.

Meanwhile, Apindo Chairman Shinta Widjaja Kamdani said, CEPA is very important and hopes that it can be resolved soon.

"We continue to encourage the immediate completion of this agreement. This is not an easy thing, hopefully this can be resolved," he explained.

According to him, in addition to helping access Indonesian products to come out, CEPA can also open investment opportunities.

"Without the IEU-CEPA, Indonesia could lose the value of exports to the European Union amounting to US $ 1.6 billion," he explained.

He said that labor-intensive business actors such as textiles, garment and shoes were the ones who pushed for the completion of the IEU-CEPA discussion, because they had to compete with other countries, while their export demand decreased.

Shinta reminded competitions with other countries, such as Vietnam, which have agreed to CEPA with the European Union, which is not only helped in terms of trade, but also in terms of investment.

"Hopefully it can be resolved soon so that investment opportunities are even greater," he hoped.

It is known that the IEU-CEPA negotiations, which have entered the 19th round, have been held for years, but have not been resolved and run tough.

Coordinating Minister for the Economy Arlanggar Hartarto said earlier this week, there were three main issues that were asked to be resolved immediately. First, the European Union wants Indonesia to relax import policies for products originating from Europe. Second, the export restriction policy is in the form of imposition of out duties, lastly related to digital taxation, quoted from Antara.