There is a very high interest in our products.
Malang, East Java (ANTARA) - Indonesia's Trade Ministry is exploring opportunities for trade cooperation with a number of countries and regions to expand the export market for domestic products, the ministry’s Director General of International Trade Negotiations Djatmiko Bris Witjaksonon said.

So far, 14 exploration efforts have been made targeting several countries and regions, he informed here on Thursday.

The countries and regions comprise the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), which has five members: Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia, and South Africa.

They also include the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which comprises Benin, Burkina Faso, the Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo.

They further include the East African Community (EAC), which comprises Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda.

Trade cooperation has also been explored with Djibouti, Algeria, Sri Lanka, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Ukraine, India, and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

GCC comprises the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, and Kuwait.

The trade exploration has been made with these countries because they have the potential to improve the performance of Indonesian exports in the future.

"There is a large potential. There is a very high interest in our products," he said.

The process of completing the trade cooperation with the countries and regions will require a long time. However, he expects that some forms of the cooperation can be agreed upon within the next five to 10 years.

This cooperation will encompass a number of trade cooperation concepts, such as free trade agreement (FTA), preferential trade agreement (PTA), and comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA).

For now, the Indonesian government is also conducting trade cooperation negotiations with 11 countries and regions. These include Bangladesh, Japan, and the European Union (EU).

They further include Canada, the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), Turkey, Tunisia, Morocco, Pakistan (Trade in Goods Agreement (TIGA), and Mercosur, which consists of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

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Translator: Vicki Febrianto, Fadhli Ruhman
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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