VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates have finished the third round of Indonesia-United Arab Emirates Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IUAE-CEPA) negotiation. The hybrid negotiation was held in Semarang, Central Java on February 1 until 4 2022.

Director General for International Trade Negotiation at the Trade Ministry, Djatmiko Bris Witjaksono in a statement on Tuesday (8/2) said that both countries shared the same spirit to finish the negotiation before the closing of Expo 2020 Dubai in March 2022. Therefore, both sides kept being pragmatic and flexible to achieve an agreement.

The IUAE-CEPA Negotiation covered various cooperation issues being discussed in ten working groups namely trade in goods, trade in services, rules of origin, customs and trade facility, investment, economic cooperation, intellectual property rights, institutional law and issue, government goods and services procurement, and Islamic economy.

In the negotiation's third round, both agreed on most issues namely customs and trade facility, trade remedies, investment, economic cooperation, intellectual property rights, government goods and services procurement, small and medium business, and Islamic economy. Meanwhile, the other issues will be finished later. The two countries hoped the agreement could be announced and signed by the end of March 2022. Djatmiko Bris Witjaksono further said that if the negotiation can be finished before the target, IUAE-CEPA will be the fastest CEPA finished by Indonesia.