VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Mar. 5 - The Ministry of Trade can speed up the completion of negotiations on several international agreements between Indonesia and partner nations, according to President Joko Widodo (Jokowi).

"The settlement of negotiations with potential countries should be accelerated. This is a priority agenda," President Jokowi noted at the State Palace in Jakarta, Thursday.

Jokowi made the statement at the opening of the 2021 Ministry of Trade National Working Meeting.

Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto, Minister of Trade Muhammad Lutfi, Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung, and other relevant officials were other attendees at the meeting.

"We need a new export market. We have completed the IA CEPA (Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement) with Australia, Korea, and the EU," President Jokowi stated.

The Indonesia-Australia CEPA was signed on March 4, 2019, and officially took effect on July 5, 2020, after the ratification process spanning 10 months.

Meanwhile, Indonesia and South Korea officially inked a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement or Indonesia-Korea Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IK-CEPA) in Seoul on December 18, 2020.

However, the Indonesia-European Union Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (I-EU CEPA) negotiations are still underway.

The 10th round of negotiations got delayed owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, and both parties held virtual intercession talks on June 15-26, 2020. Furthermore, the 10th round is expected to be held in March 2021 and planned to be completed by the end of 2021.

"The minister should complete it soon," he remarked.

Jokowi also requested for the implementation of 23 signed bilateral and regional trade agreements.

"Business actors should take advantage of it. I will cite an example. For instance, we already have the IA CEPA with Australia. Look at the opportunities there. I think a big opportunity exists in the automotive sector," President Jokowi pointed out.

Indonesian entrepreneurs can penetrate the market in Australia, and of course, the opportunity will arise for the exports of other MSME products.

"MSMEs have the opportunity to receive assistance and encouragement in order to increase the export value and diversify products to our trading partner countries," Jokowi stated.

The president also called for emphasis to be laid on manufacturing industry sectors that absorb significant workforce.

"For instance, automotive, electronics, textiles, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals as well as food and beverages must be offered stimulus and export facilities. Incentives should be provided to expand markets, especially for non-traditional countries, by capitalizing on the trade cooperation," he explained.

There is also the need to optimize the performance of Indonesian trade representatives abroad.

"We have a trade attaché. We have an ITPC (Indonesian Trade Promotion Center). Everyone must move," President Jokowi affirmed.

Apart from Australia and South Korea, Indonesia has also signed a CEPA with Chile that entered into force on August 10, 2019.

The enactment of the IC-CEPA translates to the abolition of tariffs on 7,669 Indonesian products to Chile, with 78.3 percent of the products directly getting a zero-percent tariff.

Indonesian products, comprising agricultural, canned fishery, and manufactured items, enjoy a zero-percent tariff in the Chilean market. (Antaranews)

Mar. 4 - Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has said attracting investment and creating jobs would be key to driving economic growth in 2021.

"The key to growth, our economic growth is investment. Because it is impossible for us to drastically increase our state budget. This means that the key is in investment and creating as many job opportunities as possible,” he stated in his opening remarks at the opening of the 2021 National Work Meeting of the Ministry of Trade, from the State Palace, here on on Thursday.

The President asked that trade policies be formulated to invite investment inflows. The policies must also help recover economic sectors that contracted last year due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, he added.

“(It needs to be worked out) Which sectors have been disturbed and what to do with them? Should they be given incentives or stimuli?” he said.

The President said he hopes that the inflow of investment will also open up many jobs opportunities.

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic and the entry of the younger generation into the workforce pushed up the unemployment rate in Indonesia to 10 million.

“This (job creation) is what the community has been waiting for. Because there are currently 10 million unemployed in our country, both because of the pandemic and also the new workforce,” the President noted.

This year, Widodo is pushing for domestic economic growth of 5 percent.

Achieving the target would require extra hard work and policy breakthroughs, he observed.

Last year, Indonesia's economy had contracted 2.09 percent.

"The growth target in the State Budget of 5 percent must really be achieved. 2021 is a year of recovery that must be based on optimism, " Widodo remarked. (Antaranews)

Mar. 4 - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) stressed that digital trade in Indonesia must be focused on always empowering and encouraging the performance of Micro, Small, & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and proffer benefits to the wider community.

"Digital trade must encourage our MSMEs. We have seen the benefits. Digital power must be utilized to link the supply of MSMEs in Indonesia with national and global markets," President Jokowi stated during the inauguration of the 2021 Ministry of Trade's National Working Meeting from the State Palace in Jakarta on Thursday.

President Jokowi remarked that digital trade must ultimately be able to empower MSMEs across Indonesia.

The head of state noted that if small business actors were appointed and given the opportunity, they would be well-managed and even be able to export products.

President Jokowi believes that MSMEs only require assistance in terms of packaging that should be improved, brands should be strengthened, pushed for exports, and the business capacity be increased.

"Our job is to encourage banks to inject into our MSMEs, so that their capacity can increase," President Jokowi stated.

The president noted that if a digital trade practice is unfair to MSMEs, it must be immediately regulated and resolved.

"Just last week, I told the trade minister, there is something wrong with this. In our digital trade, we have to defend and protect and empower our MSMEs to advance in class. This is one of the most important tasks of the Ministry of Trade,” President Jokowi stated. (Antaranews)

Mar. 4 - Trade Ministry designed five export-boosting strategies: maintaining export markets and main products, prioritizing export-oriented small and medium enterprises (SMEs), penetrating non-traditional markets, utilizing trade agreements, and conducting regulatory reforms, particularly the Job Creation Act's derivative.

"Exports are one of the components of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) that can promote national economic recovery," Director General of National Export Development of the Trade Ministry, Kasan, noted in an official statement here on Thursday.

Kasan emphasized the need to maintain Indonesia's main products and export markets on account of their large contribution.

"The 10 main export destination countries have contributed 70 percent to Indonesia's total exports. Meanwhile, Indonesia's 10 main export products also accounted for 60 percent of Indonesia's total export products," he pointed out.

Kasan believes emerging markets will play an even greater role in future to penetrate non-traditional markets. Emerging market countries will contribute 71 percent to the world economy, and 51 percent of them will be in the Asian region.

"Apart from Asia, Africa is also a contributor to high-demand primary commodities. It means there will be competition among emerging market countries to obtain primary commodities from the Asian and African region as raw materials to be produced into finished goods," he remarked.

Moreover, market penetration through big cities in non-traditional export markets should also be accorded priority. In future, cities in emerging market countries have vast potential to continue to boost their national economies.

"Hence, capitalize on the trade agreements reached by Indonesia and big cities in the Asian and African regions that will have a huge contribution to the entry of products from other countries into Indonesia," Kasan remarked.

Meanwhile, Kasan noted that the ministry had in place a program to create 1,500 export-oriented small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in a bid to support them.

According to the ministry's data in 2020, Indonesian export-oriented SMEs had reached 83 percent, or some 12 thousand national exporters. However, four percent of the total export-oriented SMEs, are mostly located in Java Island.

"In the program to create 1,500 export-oriented SMEs, the targeted SMEs are those that already have a product but have not yet exported it and the new one that need to be continuously supported, as well as the SMEs that are developing products and export markets," Kasan pointed out.

Kasan called on trade representatives to adapt to the situation and trade policies in the accredited country.

"The trade representatives are expected to continue to conduct their duties abroad, though still having to adjust to their respective accreditation countries," Kasan affirmed.  (Antaranews)