MOSCOW, 5 December (BelTA) - The Eurasian Economic Union and Indonesia will begin negotiations on a free trade agreement, BelTA learned from the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC).
"Member of the Board (Minister) for Trade of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) Andrey Slepnev and Minister of Trade of the Republic of Indonesia Zulkifli Hasan signed a joint statement on the launch of FTA negotiations. According to the document, the first round of negotiations will be held in the first quarter of 2023," the EEC said.
"The Eurasian Economic Union attaches great importance to the development of mutually beneficial cooperation with Indonesia, which is one of our main trading partners in ASEAN and the Asia-Pacific region," Andrey Slepnev emphasized. "We need to tap into the potential: as the study showed, liberalization of trade terms can add another $1.5 billion to our trade turnover.”
There are prospects both for agricultural products, which traditionally make up the bulk of EAEU imports from Indonesia, and for industrial commodities which are actively traded in both directions, the EEC minister said. For the effective implementation of the future agreement, it is important to promote interaction between the business communities of the EAEU and Indonesia. This will be facilitated by forums, trade and investment fairs, seminars, mutual assistance in finding partners.
"Being one of the platforms where we could additionally discuss the prospects for deepening cooperation, we propose to organize a bilateral business dialogue within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Forum in the spring of 2023," Andrey Slepnev said expressing hope for Indonesia's support for the event.
According to the EEC, in January-September 2022, the trade between the EAEU and Indonesia surged by 48.4% year-on-year, with exports from the EAEU up by more than 2.5 times, imports - by almost 16%.
