Jakarta, Indonesianpost.com – The Indonesia-Canada Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (ICA-CEPA) negotiation has entered its fifth round with a number of substantive advancements made in the discussion on 19 goods, services, and investment trade issues.
Director General of international trade negotiation at the Trade Ministry Djatmiko Bris Witjaksono said that the second week of the fifth round of negotiations will take place from June 5–12, 2023.
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Issues concerning government procurement, inclusive trade, environment, and manpower will be discussed during the round, he said in a written statement released on Tuesday.
“Indonesian President Joko Widodo and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have already met on the sidelines of last month’s G7 meeting,” the Chief of the Indonesian Negotiation Team said.
“The two agreed to encourage negotiation acceleration and provide a mandate to negotiators to produce a collective agreement during the ASEAN-Canada Summit meeting that will be held in September,” he added.
To reach an agreement, the two parties have agreed to a Trade Negotiating Committee (TNC) ICA-CEPA intersession meeting in August.
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In the current round, the two parties have managed to substantively agree on the issues of transparency, responsible business behaviors, and sound regulation practices.
“We expect in TNC discussion, Indonesia and Canada can bridge several fundamental differences of opinion through a constructive approach so that the negotiation resolution target can be realized immediately,” Witjaksono said.
Witjaksono and the chief of the Canadian negotiation team, Aaron Fowler, agreed that the sixth round of ICA-CEPA negotiation will be held in Ottawa, Canada, from September 25–29.
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The ICA-CEPA negotiation was unveiled on June 21, 2021. Negotiation is one of the priority negotiations to improve market access to goods, services, and investment in North America.
The ICA-CEPA was also established to improve the competitiveness of the Indonesian economy.