JAKARTA - The Ministry of Industry continues to actively encourage the development of international access and cooperation in the industrial sector. This step is to spur the national economy through synergies with strategic partner countries, particularly in the framework of a free trade agreement or free trade agreement.
"Since 2002, Indonesia has signed 18 free trade agreements, namely eight agreements within the framework of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), ASEAN-China FTA (ACFTA), ASEAN-Korea FTA (AKFTA), ASEAN-India FTA (AIFTA), ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand FTA (AANZFTA), ASEAN-Japan CEP (AJCEP), ASEAN-Hong Kong FTA (AHKFTA), and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)," said the Director General of Resilience, Territory and International Industrial Access (KPAII) Ministry of Industry, Eko SA Cahyanto in Jakarta, Friday (28/5).
Next, eight agreements in the bilateral framework, namely Indonesia-Japan EPA (IJEPA), Indonesia-Pakistan PTA (IPPTA), Indonesia-Palestine Trade Facilitation for Certain Products, Indonesia-Chile CEPA (ICCEPA), Indonesia-Australia CEPA (IACEPA), Indonesia-EFTA CEPA (IECEPA), Indonesia-Mozambique PTA (IMPTA), and Indonesia-Korea CEPA (IKCEPA). "Then, two agreements in other forums, namely the Trade Preferential System of the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the Preferential Tariff Arrangement - Group of Eight Developing Countries," said Eko.
Apart from FTA, Indonesia also actively participates and takes advantage of multilateral fora such as the WTO (World Trade Organization), United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Developing-8 (D8), G20 and other multilateral organizations to build resource networks while fighting for interests. national industry. According to Eko, Indonesia's participation in the FTA to some extent affects Indonesia's trade performance, particularly exports. As the backbone of Indonesia's exports, the export contribution of the industrial sector reached USD131.13 billion or 80.30 percent of total national exports which exceeded USD163.30 billion throughout 2020, and recorded a surplus of USD14.17 billion for the trade performance of the industrial sector. (LM)