09/01/2012 (Jakarta Post) - Indonesian trade minister and Pakistan minister of commerce are scheduled next week to sign a preferential trade agreement that will pave the way for closer economic relations between the two countries.

The Trade Ministry’s international trade cooperation director general, Gusmardi Bustami, said the trade deal would be signed on Jan. 19 or 20 in Jakarta.

The long and hard-bargained agreement was earlier signed on Sept. 16 last year in Jakarta by former deputy trade minister Mahendra Siregar and Pakistan’s Ministry of Commerce secretary Zafar Mahmood, but the agreement still requires the signature of the two country’s ministers.

“After the signing, we will hand over the documents to the State Secretariat for ratification,” he said over the weekend, adding that the ratification would likely be completed in April.

Gusmardi expected that the trade deal, which will take force after the ratification, would boost Indonesia’s export of palm oil and other products, including electronics, to Pakistan.

Under the deal, Indonesian principal export commodity — palm oil — for example, will enjoy the same level of import duty as Malaysian palm oil, while the Pakistan kino orange will pay 0 percent duty, which will enable it to compete better with similar products, mainly Mandarin tangerines.