"We still have not been able to establish FTA relations with Chile as we still need to conduct consolidation with stakeholders and business enterprises in Indonesia. But we hope it can be done soon," Indonesian Ambassador to Chile Aloysius Lele Madja said at a roundtable discussion on Indonesia-Chile relations here Wednesday.
Chile was now having problems in meeting overwhelming demand from its trading partners, Madja said, adding that Chileans were also sfed up with Chinese products that were flooding their doemstic markets.
"Chile is also dependent on imports to meet its domestic demand. Therefore, Indonesia should capitalize on this situation and step up its exports to Chile," Madja said.
He said the Chilean government had also asked for an immediate and positive response on initial negotiations for the establishment of the FTA relations with Indonesia.
"However, some people might not like FTA terms. But we can use other terms such as those appplicable in a comprehensive partnership agreement," he said.
Moreover, Chile had been a member of APEC since 1994 and was continuing to develop its trade relations with Asia-Pasific countries.
Indonesia was expected to serve as a gate for Chile to enter ASEAN markets as the former already trade cooperation with other South East Asian countries such as Singapore, Brunei Darussalam, Vietnam, and Thailand, Madja said.
Chile had a so-called business-to-business culture in trading. They always come straight to the point , Madja said, adding that this could become another advantage for the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KADIN) and Indonesian business enterprises to expand their business to Chile as well as to boost business cooperation between Indonesia and Chile.
According to Transparency International ranking in 2010, Chile`s corruption perception index is in 21th place with a score of 7.2 among 200 countries worldwide.
"This means Chile is a good place to do business as the corruption level in the country is quite low," Madja said.(*)
Editor: Ruslan Burhani
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