Minister of Trade Discusses IEU-CEPA to Deforestation Policy with European Trade Committee

Jakarta: The Minister of Trade Zulkifli Hasan pushed for the Indonesia-European Union Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IEU-CEPA) to be completed in 2024.
 
This was discussed when receiving a visit from the European Parliament's Committee on International Trade (INTA) yesterday.
 
Zulkifli said that IEU-CEPA is Indonesia's priority agenda. For this reason, Indonesia is ready to complete the IEU-CEPA negotiations in 2024 according to the directions of Indonesian President Joko Widodo and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

"For this reason, we ask for the support of the European Parliament, especially the INTA Committee, in completing this negotiation," said Zulkifli, quoted in a press release, Thursday, 22 June 2023.
 
Apart from the IEU-CEPA, the man who is often called Zulhas also expressed his objections to the European Union's new environmental policy regarding deforestation because it has the potential to have a negative impact on the Indonesian agricultural sector, especially for small farmers.
 
"This policy is not in line with the spirit of cooperation and can have a negative impact on small-scale farmers. Indonesia hopes that the European Union can cancel this regulation," he said.
 
The European Union has published the Deforestation and Forest Degradation Regulations on 9 June 2023. The policy requires due diligence for certain agricultural and forestry products as a condition for entry into the EU market.
 
"For this reason, we ask for the support of the European Parliament, especially the INTA Committee, in completing this negotiation," he said.
 
Handling of disputes at the Dispute Settlement Body of the World Trade Organization (WTO) was also raised at the meeting. Zulhas said that Indonesia supports the multilateral trading system, including the principles, rules and provisions of the WTO.
 
"Indonesia respects the freedom of a country to become more advanced based on the country's capabilities and resources. For this reason, it is hoped that other countries will also respect Indonesia," he said.
 
Currently, there are three cases between Indonesia and the European Union at the WTO, namely the ban on Indonesian nickel exports (DS592), the European Union's policy on palm oil products (DS593), and the imposition of reimbursement of import duties (BMI) and anti-dumping duties (BMAD). by the European Union on Indonesian steel (DS616). (Kevin Schreiber)
 
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