Indonesia-Japan Accelerate Settlement of Economic Partnership Agreement General Review
Netral News (11/08/2018) - JAKARTA, NNC - In order to accelerate the completion of the General Review Indonesia-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (GR IJEPA), the Indonesian and Japanese delegations met again to continue the GR IJEPA negotiations through the 8th Joint Committee Meeting (JCM-8) on August 8-10, 2018 in Tokyo, Japan.
"This JCM-8 meeting in Tokyo is a manifestation of the commitment of the two countries to continue as well as accelerate the GR IJEPA settlement as the work plan agreed upon at the JCM-7 Meeting in Bali last March 2018," explained the Director General of International Trade Negotiations as Chairman of the Indonesian Negotiator Team for GR IJEPA Iman Pambagyo via a press release, Saturday (8/11/2018).
The series of JCM-8 meetings were carried out in parallel with the seven meetings of the Sub Committee including goods trading, trade in services, investment, rules of origin, movement of individuals, cooperation and procurement of government goods/services, and informal meetings issue of improving the business environment and increasing business confidence.
Iman expressed optimism that an optimal two-way trade and investment improvement based on sustainable and mutually beneficial principles can be achieved if the GR IJEPA can be completed.
As is well known, efforts to expand market access for potential products are Indonesia's main focus in the GR IJEPA, especially in the fisheries, industry, agriculture and forestry sectors.
In addition, on this occasion, Indonesia explained the new cooperation proposal to the Japanese side which was expected to be mutually beneficial for the two countries, including in the manufacturing and textile industries, metal and machinery SMEs, agriculture, and human resources health workers.
In this meeting, Indonesia also discussed the issue of palm oil and fought for the certification of Indonesia Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) to be recognized by the Japanese Government.
Regarding the discussion of trade in goods, the two delegations discussed revised requests that had been exchanged earlier in August 2018. It was hoped that Japan could provide meaningful, credible and balanced market access, both in terms of quality and quantity, which is beneficial for both countries.
Meanwhile the discussion on the Service Trade Sub-Committee included the expansion and deepening of the commitment of the two parties in a number of service sectors. While in the Sub-Committee on the Transfer of Individuals, Indonesia also fought for the development of Indonesian labor placements in Japan, specifically to discuss Indonesia's proposals to expand employment opportunities in the Japanese market in the tourism industry.
Indonesia and Japan also continued the discussion and exchanged views regarding the proposed improvement of the IJEPA agreement in the field of investment and procurement of government goods/services carried out by each of the relevant Sub-Committees. To continue the discussion, the two countries agreed to carry out the next Joint Committee Meeting in September 2018 in Indonesia