Indonesians harvest rice (Source: www.gettyimages.in)Jakarta (VNA) – Indonesia plans to excludeseveral “sensitive” commodities such as rice, weaponry and alcoholic beveragesfrom its scheduled commitment to eliminating tariffs in the RegionalComprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
Speaking at a recent webinar, director general forinternational trade cooperation under the Trade Ministry Iman Pambagyo saidthat “these are the sectors that we always consider to be very, very sensitivefor Indonesia”.
On November 15, Indonesia joined the nine other members ofASEAN, along with Australia, China, Japan, the Republic of Korea and NewZealand, in signing the RCEP.
According to data from Statistics Indonesia (BPS), the RCEPcountries accounted for 61.6 percent of Indonesian exports and 71.3 percent ofits imports last year.
Indonesia has committed to eliminating 91 percent of itstariff lines in the coming years under the world’s largest free tradeagreement, with rice, weapons and alcoholic beverages among the 9 percent oftariff lines excluded from the deal./.
VNA
