Indonesia, UAE form joint committee to monitor IUAE-CEPA development

Jakarta, Indonesianpost.com – Indonesia’s Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan said his ministry has formed a joint committee to discuss the development of the Indonesia-United Arab Emirates Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IUAE-CEPA).

“We hope the UAE will become a hub (for Indonesian export products) to enter the Middle East, such as Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries. To implement this, we have established a joint committee to continue to discuss how far this can go well,” Hasan said here on Sunday.

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At the press conference of the 23rd Meeting of the ASEAN Economic Community Council (AECC) in Jakarta, he said that Indonesia and the UAE signed the IUAE-CEPA in 2022.

The Indonesian Government has issued derivative regulations on IUAE-CEPA technicalities, such as finance, trade, and industry ministerial regulations, Hasan added.

At his meeting with UAE Foreign Trade Minister Thani Bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Hasan said his side also encouraged the implementation of business talk shows between Indonesian and UAE business actors to further strengthen trade cooperation between the two countries.

“We hope that both parties carry out a trade mission, and we have visited UAE recently,” he explained.

At the meeting, Hasan conveyed that Indonesia supports UAE as the host of the 13th World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference which will be held in Abu Dhabi on February 26-29, 2024.

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Furthermore, Hasan explained that the Indonesian Trade Ministry has met with business actors in order to agree on easing the digital trade in ASEAN.

“Everything will be facilitated. ASEAN will be one of the leading (region) in the fields of trade, investment, and services. We will be paperless so that we can compete with other countries,” he said.