TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia has planned to improve trade relations with Peru through a trade agreement that is currently being drafted. Trade Ministry’s director general of international trade negotiations Iman Pambagyo revealed that Peru is one of the countries being approached by Indoneisia.
“We are approaching and will approach Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nigeria, and Mozambique o sign the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA). We will also launch the Indonesia-Peru Trade in Goods Agreement (TIGA),” Iman told Bisnis on Wednesday, April 19, 2017.
Peru is not the only Latin American countries being approached by Indonesia. Currently, the government is in the process of negotiations with Chile in relation to TIGA. The negotiation was commenced back in 2014 and halted for about three years.
According to Iman, the Indonesia-Peru TIGA will be launched soon.
“We’re still arranging a schedule for trade ministers [of both countries] to meet,” Iman added.
Data from the Trade Ministry showed that Indonesia recorded a bilateral trade balance surplus of US$99.79 million with Peru in 2016. The total value of Indonesian products exported to Peru was US$159.09 million, while the total value of imports from Peru was US$59.3 million.
The government is pitching trade agreements to a number of countries in a bid to diversify export destinations. Currently, most of Indonesian exports are focused on traditional markets, such as China, the US, Japan, India, and the European Union. This year, the government has set a target to achieve export growth by 5.6 percent, after having a decline in 2016 to 3.94 percent with a total export value of US$144.43 billion.
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