TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Australian beef exporters are lamenting about Indonesia's country-based meat import allocation system and the expenses they must bear to obtain halal certificates.
From March 15 to 18, 2016, Trade Minister Thomas Trikasih Lembong visited Australia, where he met with representatives of the country's red meat industry and discussed the trade relationshop between the two nations.
Among the business representatives, Minister Thomas met the managing director of Meat Livestock Australia, the CEO of the Australian Livestock Exporters' Council, the chairman of the Red Meat Advisory Council Chairman, and the CEO of Livecorp.
During the meeting in Sydney, the Australian businessmen revealed their concern about the notification system and the costs they must pay to obtain halal certificates.
"I told them that Indonesia is now in the process of deregulating several sectors, and we are hoping for our agricultural sector to become more modern so as to minimize political issues," Lembong said in a written statement on Monday, March 21, 2016.
The minister also met the CEO of Macquarie Group Asia, Alex Harvey. In last Tuesday's meeting, Lembong invited Macquarie to cooperate with the Indonesian banking sector to manage assets to be invested in several sectors such as education, highway construction, farming and water management.
In response to the invitation, Lembong said Macquarie will hold assessments with the Financial Services Authority (OJK) or Bank Mandiri, in order to map-out Indonesia's capital inflow to be invested in infrastructure development.
"As a follow up, the cooperation plan will be discussed in the few weeks in Jakarta," he said.
PINGIT ARIA
