Indonesian and European Union officials at the 15th round of negotiations of the Indonesia-European Union Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IEU-CEPA) taking place in Yogyakarta on July 10-14, 2023.(Photo: antaranews.com) Jakarta (VNA) – Indonesia and the European Union (EU) have completed the 15th round of the Indonesia-European Union Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IEU-CEPA) negotiations.
Head of the Indonesian negotiation team - Trade Ministry's Bilateral Negotiation Director Johni Martha said that the two negotiation teams made efforts in finding solutions for issues in IEU-CEPA.
After the last negotiation round in Brussels, they are positive to see progress.
The two parties have concurred on Economic Cooperation and Capacity Building (ECCB), making it the seventh section of IEU-CEPA completed so far.
The two sides agreed to continue to accelerate the progress in negotiations to adhere to instructions from President Joko Widodo and the EU leadership.
Head of the EU team - the European Commission's Deputy Head of Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand Unit,Filip Deraedt said that the 16th round of negotiations is expected to take place by 2023-end in Brussels.
Indonesia and the European Union share the same commitment to maintain the positive momentum from the progress achieved in the round.
In 2022, the total trade value between Indonesia and the EU reached 33.2 billion USD. Indonesia's exports to the EU reached 21.5 billion USD while Indonesian imports from the EU were valued at 11.7 billion USD.
Some of Indonesia's main export commodities to the EU in 2022 are palm oil and its derivatives, coal, and leather footwear. Meanwhile, Indonesia mainly imports from the EU steel and iron pipes, medicine and vaccines, and recycled paper or cardboard./.
