Indonesia to leave out some sensitive goods from RCEP tariffs

27/11/2020 12:00 - 158 Views

Indonesia plans to exclude several “sensitive” commodities such as rice, weaponry and alcoholic beverages from its scheduled commitment to eliminating tariffs in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

Speaking at a recent webinar, director general for international trade cooperation under the Trade Ministry Iman Pambagyo said that “these are the sectors that we always consider to be very, very sensitive for Indonesia”.

On November 15, Indonesia joined the nine other members of ASEAN, along with Australia, China, Japan, the Republic of Korea and New Zealand, in signing the RCEP.

According to data from Statistics Indonesia (BPS), the RCEP countries accounted for 61.6 percent of Indonesian exports and 71.3 percent of its imports last year.

Indonesia has committed to eliminating 91 percent of its tariff lines in the coming years under the world’s largest free trade agreement, with rice, weapons and alcoholic beverages among the 9 percent of tariff lines excluded from the deal.

Source: Vietnam Plus