TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia has asked New Zealand and Australia to reduce import duty of two Indonesian exported products, herbicide and insecticide, from 5 percent to 0 percent in the ASEAN-Australia New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (AANSFTA).

“To increase trade, Indonesia exports herbicide and insecticide, which its import duty is still 5 percent. We asked for it to become 0 percent,” Industry Minister Airlangga Hartarto said in Jakarta on Thursday.

He expressed the matter after having talks with New Zealand Ambassador to Indonesia Trevor Matheson, at the Industry Ministry Building, Jakarta.

Director General of Robustness and International Industry Access Development of the Industry Ministry, Harjanto, say there two ASEAN country members exporting herbicide and insecticide to New Zealand, namely Indonesia and Malaysia.

Unfortunately, since the cooperation agreement was implemented, import duty for Indonesian products are higher compared to Malaysia of only 0 percent.

This makes Malaysian products more competitive than Indonesian products.

“Herbicide and insecticide is used by New Zealand to work on farms in the country. We expect Indonesian products can be competitive with Malaysian products through this market liberalization,” Harjanto said.

Harjanto believes that outside of the AANZFTA agreement, Malaysia and New Zealand have other deals, making import duty for both products to be 0 percent.

According to a data from the Industry Ministry, the trade value between Indonesia and New Zealand reaches $1.07 billion, where Indonesia is still experiencing a $200.8 million deficit.

Harjanto expects with the 0 percent import duty, the trade balance between Indonesia and New Zealand could be more balanced, thus strengthening bilateral cooperation of both countries.

ANTARA