Indonesia, South Korea relaunch trade talks

Indonesia and the South Korean government announced on Tuesday they would relaunch negotiations for the Indonesia-Korea Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IK-CEPA).

The two countries had initiated talks in 2012, but they came to a halt two years later. They were not reignited until last November when South Korean Trade Minister Hyun Chong Kim and his Indonesian counterpart Enggartiasto Lukita expressed their commitment to continuing negotiations. The trade value between the two countries exceeded US$20 billion in 2018. With IK-CEPA, the figure is expected to increase by 50 percent over the next three years, said Enggartiasto.

“We expect to increase [trade transactions] to $30 billion in the next three years,” Enggartiasto told reporters in Jakarta. “We have also agreed to sign this agreement, hopefully, by November, so the negotiations should be concluded before that.” Kim lauded the negotiations relaunch, saying that the $20 billion trade value was underwhelming given the potential the two countries had. “The fact that we can re-establish these Indonesia-Korea CEPA negotiations is really significant, and I hope the two countries can work together in this,” Kim said on the same occasion. (bbn)

Source: https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2019/02/19/indonesia-south-korea-relaunch-trade-talks.html

Source: https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2019/02/19/indonesia-south-korea-relaunch-trade-talks.html