JAKARTA - Minister of Trade Agus Suparmanto received a visit from the Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Attraction, French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs Franck Riester, in Jakarta, on Tuesday (15/12). The meeting discussed enhancing trade and investment cooperation between Indonesia and France. The meeting was held as part of Minister Frank's working visit to Singapore, Indonesia and South Korea on 12-20 December 2020.
At the meeting, the two Ministers discussed the progress of the Indonesia-European Union (Indonesia-European Union Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement / IEU-CEPA) overall cooperation agreement.
"Indonesia welcomes the progress of the IEU-CEPA negotiations that have been achieved by both parties in the last three years. Although the positive momentum was slightly disrupted by the pandemic which resulted in the postponement of the 10th negotiations, both parties are still committed to completing negotiations as soon as possible," said the Trade Minister.
During this meeting, the Minister of Trade raised the issue of market access for palm oil products to Europe which is experiencing various challenges in the EU market, including the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) II policy, countervailing duties on Indonesian biodiesel, exemptions from tax incentives for natural fuels in France, and a negative campaign against palm products.
For this reason, the Trade Minister welcomed the results of the agreement on the formation of a working group (Joint Working Group) between the EU and several ASEAN countries to discuss the challenges of fulfilling the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the vegetable oil sector. The Trade Minister also hopes that the first meeting planned to take place in January 2021 will be productive. (LM)