VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

RRI World Service Voice of Indonesia with a daily segment My Indonesia which today is on "Supporting Palestine, Indonesia Exempts Dates and Olive Import Duty".

Indonesia removes tariffs for certain Palestinian products. For the initial phase, Indonesia will exempt the tariffs of dates and olive oil originating from Palestine. This is a form of Indonesian support for the Palestinian struggle in the economic sector.

Indonesian Minister of Trade Enggartiasto Lukita conveyed it when meeting Palestinian Ambassador Zuhair Al-Shun in Jakarta, Tuesday (22/5). He said, in the future other products will be selected and agreed by both parties.

The Minister of Trade said this meeting as a follow-up to the signing of a memorandum of understanding concerning the preference for the exemption of import duty tariff of 0% for certain products from Palestine. The signing of the MoU was conducted at a bilateral meeting between the two countries on the sidelines of the 11th World Trade Organization - WTO Ministerial Conference on December 12, 2017.

According to Minister Enggartiasto, Tuesday's meeting was the first with the Palestinian ambassador since his assignment in Indonesia in November 2017. Ratification of the MoU has been completed with the issuance of Presidential Decree no. 34 of 2018. However, this Memorandum of Understanding has not been implemented because the technical guidance of Implementing Arrangement has not been signed by both parties.

The Implementing Arrangement draft exchanges had been conducted several times and Indonesia submitted its last draft on 26 January 2018. If it has been signed by both parties, Indonesia will soon issue a Regulation of the Minister of Finance as the implementing rule for elimination of dates and olive oil tariffs.

Indonesia's exports to Palestine in 2017 amounted to 2.05 million US dollars. Export commodities to Palestine include extracts, concentrates and essences of coffee and tea; pasta; perfume; bread; and soap. Meanwhile, the value of Indonesian imports from Palestine amounted to 341 thousand US dollars. This value rose 20.09% compared to 2016. Indonesia's imported products from Palestine are dates, both dried and wet dates.