Entering the Third Round of Comprehensive Economic Partnership, Indonesia-Canada Deepen Trade Potential

Photo: Doc. Antara/Ministry of Trade

JAKARTA - Indonesia and Canada met again in the third round of negotiations on the Indonesia-Canada Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (ICA-CEPA). In this round, trade-related issues will be discussed, including preliminary discussions on the level of liberalization and the modalities of trade in goods to be used in the ICA–CEPA scheme.

The third round of negotiations will take place on October 31-November 4, 2022 virtually. In this third round, Canada again hosted the second round of negotiations which were previously held on August 14-19, 2022.

The Indonesian delegation was led by the Chief Negotiator, namely the Director General of International Trade Negotiations at the Ministry of Trade, Djatmiko Bris Witjaksono. Meanwhile, the Canadian Delegation was led by the Chief Negotiator, namely the Canadian Director General of Agri-Food Negotiations and Agreements Aaron Fowler.

Both the Indonesian Delegation and the Canadian Delegation consist of ministries and institutions of each country.

Djatmiko said that the implementation of the third round is a form of the seriousness of the Indonesian government in maintaining the momentum of the ICA-CEPA negotiations.

"Especially to meet the target of completing the negotiations by the end of next year. This negotiation is a priority negotiation which is expected to lead to an increase in Indonesia's trade performance to Canada", said Djatmiko, Tuesday, November 1.

Djatmiko said, in this round, 17 Working Groups and three Expert Team Discussions will meet again to discuss issues related to trade, including initial discussions on the level of liberalization and the modalities of trade in goods to be used in the ICA-CEPA scheme.

"Although Indonesia-Canada total trade data has shown an increase in the last three years (2019-2021), we believe the current performance still does not reflect the real potential of the two countries", he said.

Furthermore, Djatmiko also said that there is still a lot of potential and space for the development of economic cooperation between Indonesia and Canada that can be encouraged through ICA-CEPA.

Djatmiko also hopes that this third round can be a bright spot for discussing new issues of negotiation, namely employment, environment, and inclusive trade which have been discussed in the Expert Team Discussions. He hopes that the bright spots for these issues will later help accommodate the national interests of the two countries.

"I appreciate the delegations of the two countries who attended the negotiations with a positive spirit and open minds to reach a mutually beneficial agreement for both countries. I hope that good coordination and cooperation between the two countries will bring significant progress to these negotiations", said Djatmiko.

Djatmiko said that the two delegations also agreed to continue the fourth round of negotiations in early 2023 in Indonesia.

Indonesia-Canada Trade Performance

In the January-August 2022 period, the total trade between Indonesia and Canada reached US$2.9 billion, growing 39.6 percent over the same period the previous year which was US$2 billion.

In the same period, Indonesia's exports to Canada reached 884 million US dollars, while Indonesia's imports from Canada amounted to 1.9 billion US dollars. In 2021, Indonesia's exports were recorded at 1.06 billion US dollars, an increase of 34.75 percent compared to 2020 which was recorded at 789.12 million US dollars.

Meanwhile, Indonesia's imports from Canada were recorded at 2.05 billion US dollars, an increase of 27.14 percent compared to 2020 of 1.61 billion US dollars.

Indonesia's mainstay export commodities to Canada in 2021 are natural rubber, men's clothing, motor vehicle accessories, tires, and textile footwear. Meanwhile, Indonesia's main import commodities from Canada are wheat, fertilizer, wood pulp, soybeans, and iron ore.