Indonesia Mulls Over the Possibility of Free Trade with EU
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Kamis, 1 Januari 1970 07:00 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia (RI) is currently studying over the possibility of establishing free trade with the European Union (EU CEPA) this year, bearing in mind that Vietnam has already established free trade with the EU.
“Vietnam has established [free trade agreemen with the EU]; textile and Crude Palm Oil (CPO) exports. We could be left behind. We need to catch up,” said Achmad, Sigit Dwiwahjono, Industry Ministry’s Director General of Industry Resilience and Development of International Industry Access, in Jakarta, Wednesday, February 17, 2016.
However, Sigit warned not to include all sectors in the free trade agreement. Sigit said, the European Union wants 95 percent of trade to be imposed with 0 percent tariff.
Therefore, he added, the study team is currently selecting goods to be included in the free trade, reviewing its domestic resilience and taking competion into account.
Sigit suggested that if the RI-EU CEPA agreement materialized, Indonesia is optimistic to grab 30 percent of the EU investments in ASEAN, which is currently stands at only 12 percent.
ANTARA
