JAKARTA — Economic Coordinating Minister Airlangga Hartarto hopes that the United Kingdom (UK) will not follow the European Union (EU) in implementing the EU Deforestation-free Regulation (EUDR), which is potential to negatively affect the small-scale farmers of Indonesia’s top agricultural commodities, especially palm oil.
Minister Airlangga expressed the hope on Wednesday, 07 June 2023, after his meeting with Richard Graham, an envoy of UK prime minister, who is in charge of trade relations with Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, and ASEAN. The meeting was also aimed by the United Kingdom government to support Indonesia’s ASEAN presidency in 2023.
“Indonesia is ready to discuss the issue further with UK to reach a common understanding that will lead to fair and non-discriminatory measures acceptable to both sides,” Minister Airlangga said.
Indonesia and UK have also confirmed their intention to explore the possibility of negotiations on free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries through the platform of dialogue under the Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO), which has been previously established.
Richard Graham said that UK as a dialogue partner of ASEAN has supported Indonesia’s Priority Economic Deliverables (PED), which are concerned with the development of industrial initiative framework in ASEAN and the designing of a regional roadmap to support the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in ASEAN.
As one of Indonesia’s biggest trade partners in European market, UK is ready to support Indonesia’s programs to realize its industrial down-streaming, electric vehicle ecosystem, and economic digitalization.
Commenting on the UK’s plan to help develop Indonesia’s education sector, Airlangga said the UK government can collaborate with the University of Brawijaya and the special economic zone of Singasari in Malang, East Java province.
“They can also emulate the model of cooperation already implemented by the University of Monash, Apple Academy, and IBM Academy,” he said. (*)
Source: sawitku.id
