Jakarta – Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan (Zulhas) said that President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has given him a direct mandate to launch all out fighting against the European Union  Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) until its revocation by the EU.

Minister Zulhas said that Indonesia will invite other 33 countries to draft a second letter of protest as part of their collaboration to reject the EU regulation. “Currently, we’re drafting the second letter. Our target is to drum up support as much as possible from other countries, in order to strengthen our position to reject the regulation,” Zulhas said at the office building of the trade ministry in Jakarta on Tuesday, 01 July 2023.

According to him, the EUDR is potential to hinder Indonesia’s trade with the EU and harm the interest of smallholders. Indonesia’s exports to EU are estimated at total value of almost US$7.2 billion, affecting almost 8 million smallholders.

“This is not an easy task, but we’ll keep securing our national interests, including protection our farmers,” he said.

The government will ask the EU to revoke the regulation and create a win-win solution for both EU and Indonesia.

According to him, without the anti-deforestation policy the trade relations between EU and Indonesia reached a total value of US$100 billion.

“I said that we’re also seeing a fast growth in Asia. Therefore, besides the EU we’re also tapping other non-traditional markets,” said Zulhas.

The EUDR has been formally applied by the EU since 16 May 2023. The regulation obliges all exporters to deliver documents of due diligence and verification of their products.

The EU claims that such regulation is aimed to ensure that the products exported into EU are not the cause of deforestations after 01 January 2021. (*)

Source: sawitku.id