Liputan6.com, Jakarta – Indonesia and Canada completed the first week of the fifth round of negotiations on the Indonesia-Canada Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (ICA-CEPA) on Friday, June 2, 2023 in Ottawa, Canada.

The first week of the fifth round of negotiations saw a number of substantial advances in discussions on 19 issues related to trade in goods, services and investments. The round of negotiations will take place in a hybrid manner from May 17 to June 12, 2023.

Director General of International Trade Negotiations at the Ministry of Commerce Djatmiko Bris Witjaksono, as chair of the Indonesian negotiating team, said that the second week of the fifth round of negotiations will continue from June 5 to 12, 2023. To discuss issues of public procurement, inclusive trade, environment and employment.

“President Joko Widodo and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met on the sidelines of the G7 meeting last May. Both sides agreed to encourage the acceleration of negotiations and mandated negotiators to be able to reach a joint agreement at the ASEAN-Canada summit to be held next September,” he said in a written statement, Tuesday (6/6/2023).

To reach this agreement, both parties agreed to consider the intersessional meeting of the ICA-CEPA Trade Negotiating Committee (CNC) in August 2023. During this round, both parties managed to reach an agreement on the merits of the discussion of issues of transparency, responsible business behavior and good regulatory practices.

“We hope that during the NCC discussions, Indonesia and Canada can resolve several fundamental differences of views through a constructive approach so that the goal of a negotiated settlement can be achieved quickly,” Djatmiko added.