Indonesia Negotiating with Chile for Trade Access to Latin America

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia and Chile began negotiations over trade services between the two countries. If completed, Indonesia could have new market access to Chile for transportation services, financial services, construction services, and also professional services.

"The service trade agreement with Chile can also open up Indonesian service market access to the Latin American region through Chile as a hub," the Trade Ministry's director-general of international trade negotiations, Iskandar Panjaitan, said in a written statement on Thursday, December 17.

On the same day, the two countries agreed to start the negotiations as part of the Indonesia-Chile Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IC-CEPA). A joint document was agreed upon, namely the Joint Statement on the Launch of Services Trade Negotiation of the IC-CEPA.

"We hope to achieve a mutually beneficial agreement in a not too distant future," Iskandar said during the launching event with the Undersecretariat of International Economic Affairs Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Chile.

Iskandar hopes the negotiation process can complement the achievement of the CEPA-IC agreement in the goods trade, which has been implemented since August 2019. In 2019 alone, he said, Indonesia exported around US$126 million worth of goods to Chile.

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FAJAR PEBRIANTO