Director of bilateral negotiations at the Ministry of Trade and chair of the Indonesian negotiating team, Johni Martha, said that Peru is a non-traditional trading partner for Indonesia with a large potential.
"Peru can be a hub for Indonesian products in the Central American and South American regions. Therefore, the IP-CEPA negotiations play an important role for new opportunities in wider trade between the two countries," he informed in a statement released by his office on Thursday.
He pointed out that the trade potential between the two countries is significantly large, considering Peru's total population of 34 million and gross domestic product (GDP) of US$239.3 billion.
IP-CEPA could also widen trade opportunities between the two countries.
In the first round, the two parties will negotiate on the goods sector, including goods trade market access, rules of origin, customs and trade facilitation, economic cooperation, technical barriers to trade, trade security, protection of human, animal, and plant health, dispute resolution, and legal and institutional framework, Martha informed.
According to him, Indonesia and Peru are targeting to complete IP-CEPA negotiations by November 2024.
In the January–March 2024 period, total trade between Indonesia and Peru reached US$97.4 million. During the period, Indonesia's exports to Peru were recorded at US$63.9 million, while its imports from Peru were pegged at US$33.5 million. Thus, Indonesia registered a trade surplus of US$30.43 million.
In 2023, the total trade between the two countries reached US$444.4 million, with the value of Indonesia's exports to Peru amounting to US$367.4 million and imports totaling US$77 million.
Indonesia's main exports to Peru in 2023 included motor vehicles and cars (US$144 million), biodiesel (US$31.8 million), footwear (US$44.9 million), and paper (US$13.2 million).
Meanwhile, Indonesia's main imports from Peru included cocoa beans (US$33.1 million), fresh/dried grapes (US$19.7 million), phosphate mineral or chemical fertilizers (US$8.5 million), unwrought zinc (US$5.3 million), and metal slag (US$2.5 million).
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Translator: Maria Cicilia G P, Resinta Sulistiyandari
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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