TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Member countries of the Developing Eight (D-8) are aiming to achieve USD 500 billion trade volume by 2018, Director General of Resilience and Development of International Industry Access, Industry Ministry, Harjanto said.
“The target of the D-8’s intra-trade is USD 500 billion by 2018, up from 2012 of USD 140 billion,” Harjanto said Tuesday in Jakarta.
Harjanto said members of the D-8 will create a conducive business environment to speed up the achivement of the trade volume.
“Some issues must be addressed to achieve it, for example, on visa, customs and Preferential Tariff Agreement [PTA],” Harjanto said.
According to Harjanto, the target of improved trade volume could create an opportunity for Indonesia to find new export markets.
He said that Indonesia is still relying on traditional countries in its exports. Whereas members of the D-8 could become non-traditional markets for Indonesia to develop new export network.
“It could be developed. We also have plans to establish a Free Trade Agreement [FTA], it’s certainly has potentials,” Harjanto said.
The D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation was established in October 1996 in Istanbul, Turkey, comprising eight developing countries with large Muslim population, namely Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey.
ANTARA
