Ministry Of Trade And Switzerland Press MoU On Trade Promotion Cooperation

Didi Sumedi (right) and the Swiss Ambassador to Indonesia Olivier Zehnder during the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the Ministry of Trade Office, Friday (17/3/2023). (Doc. ANTARA)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Trade (Kemendag) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Swiss Government for trade promotion cooperation.

Director General of National Export Development (PEN) of the Ministry of Trade Didi Sumedi said the MoU showed the Ministry of Trade's commitment to become a leading ministry in encouraging exports of value-added Indonesian products to the European market.

"Cooperation coverage includes increasing capacity, training, and transferring knowledge to personnel of the Directorate General of PEN of the Ministry of Trade who can strengthen the Directorate General of PEN in providing export promotional information services to business actors and ensuring sustainability aspects, as well as digitization in its implementation," said Didi in a written statement in Jakarta, quoted from ANTARA, Saturday, March 18.

Didi added that this collaboration is an implementation of a comprehensive economic and trade agreement between Indonesia and the European Free Trade Area (EFTA CEPA) which has been fully applicable since November 2021. The purpose of the MoU is to strengthen agreements that can contribute to increasing the value of trade between the two countries.

"Therefore, both countries want to strengthen agreements that can contribute to increasing trade value," continued Didi.

In implementing the MoU, the Swiss Government assigned the Swiss Import Promotion Program (SIPPO) as an Implementation Agency, involving multi-stakeholders such as the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs, the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, the Indonesian Atsiri Council, the Indonesian Organist Alliance, and related business actors associations.

The main export products selected and lead institutions in the implementation of the cooperation project are the Ministry of Trade for processed wood products (technical wood processing), the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs for natural ingredient products, the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries for added value marine products, and the Indonesian Atsiri Council for essential oils.

"These products are Indonesia's leading exports that are very much needed in the Swiss market and other European countries. For this reason, this program is carried out to ensure the sustainability of product supply for Swiss consumers. We hope that Indonesia and Switzerland can become strategic partners who complement each other's needs, both goods and services," said Didi.

Swiss Ambassador to Indonesia Olivier Zehnder said this agreement was not only aimed at increasing the total trade value of the two countries, but also strengthening mutually beneficial strategic partnerships. The main thing that must be done is transparency in trade policies for the ease of market access for the sustainability of supply chains.

Based on data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) processed by the Ministry of Trade, since the implementation of the Indonesia-EFTA Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) in November 2021, Indonesia and Switzerland's total trade in 2022 was recorded at USD 2.75 billion, up 38 percent compared to 2021.

Indonesia's non-oil and gas exports to Switzerland in that period were recorded at 1.88 billion US dollars, an increase of 43 percent compared to the previous year. Meanwhile, Indonesia's imports from Switzerland in 2022 reached 868.6 million US dollars, an increase of 28 percent compared to the previous year.

In 2022, exports of processed wood and furniture products will reach 1.4 million US dollars, an increase of more than 100 percent compared to 2021. Natural ingredient products (natural ingredient) and essential oils (essential oils) were recorded at 6.6 million US dollars, an increase of 67 percent compared to the previous year, as well as fishery products worth 755 thousand US dollars, an increase of 27 percent compared to 2021.