Antara | 22 March 2024
I-EAEU FTA negotiations agreed on two more chapters: Trade Ministry
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia’s Ministry of Trade stated that negotiations on the Indonesia-Eurasian Economic Union Free Trade Agreement (I-EAEU FTA) have reached the fourth round, where the two parties agreed on two additional chapters.
The ministry’s Director of Bilateral Negotiations, Johni Martha, noted in a statement from the ministry here on Friday that the I-EAEU FTA negotiations have completed four out of the 15 negotiated chapters.
“I appreciate the two negotiation teams that have been maintaining a positive momentum of negotiations since the first round until now, especially with the spirit of cooperation and openness in discussing various issues that are deemed hindering the two parties’ bilateral trade,” he remarked.
The fourth round of negotiations, held in Yerevan, Armenia, on March 18-20, discussed 13 issues, comprising dispute resolution, trade in goods, electronic commerce, legal provisions, institutional issues, and trade security.
The issues also included cooperation, rules of origin and standards, transparency, institutional provisions, general provisions, technical regulations, and suitability assessment procedures.
Furthermore, business competition and sanitary and phytosanitary issues were discussed online after the fourth round.
In this round, Indonesia and the EAEU reached an agreement on the standards, technical regulations, and suitability assessment procedures chapter, and the transparency chapter.
Earlier, the two parties had completed the customs administration and trade facilitation chapter as well as the intellectual property rights chapter.
Martha noted that substantial progress can also be seen in the discussions of the texts on rules of origin, electronic commerce, cooperation, trade security, dispute resolution, legal provisions, and institutional issues.
In terms of market access, the two parties have created plans to complete discussions, including exchanging a second offer list in the near future.
“The next round of negotiations is planned to take place in Indonesia in July 2024. With the consistent pace of negotiations, I am optimistic that I-EAEU FTA negotiations can be concluded this year in accordance with the target,” he affirmed.
The EAEU is an economic union comprising Armenia, Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. The FTA is aimed at encouraging the diversification of Indonesia’s export markets.
In 2023, the total trade between Indonesia and the EAEU reached US$3.8 billion, declining by 12.8 percent as compared to 2022, which reached US$4.3 billion.
In the same year, Indonesia’s exports to the EAEU reached US$1.1 billion, while Indonesia’s imports from the EAEU reached US$2.7 billion.
Indonesia’s export products to the EAEU in 2023 were dominated by palm oil, copra, television sets, and electrical machinery and equipment. Meanwhile, Indonesia’s main import products from the EAEU are coal, fertilizer, non-alloy steel semi-finished products, and wheat.
