JAKARTA – Indonesia and Canada met again during the third round of negotiations on the Indonesia-Canada Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (ICA-CEPA) which took place virtually from October 31 to November 4, 2022. During the third round, Canada again hosted the second round of negotiations which was previously held from August 14-19, 2022.

The Director General of International Trade Negotiations at the Ministry of Commerce, Djatmiko Bris Witjaksono, explained that the implementation of the third round is a form of the Indonesian government’s seriousness in maintaining the momentum of the ICA-CEPA negotiations. Above all, to achieve the goal of completing the negotiations by the end of next year.

“This negotiation is a priority negotiation that should lead to an increase in Indonesia’s trade performance with Canada,” Djatmiko said in Jakarta on Tuesday (1/10).

The Indonesian delegation was led by the chief negotiator, namely the Director General of International Trade Negotiations at the Ministry of Commerce, Djatmiko Bris Witjaksono. Meanwhile, the Canadian delegation was led by the chief negotiator, Canadian Director General of Agri-Food Negotiations and Agreements, Aaron Fowler. The Indonesian delegation and the Canadian delegation are made up of ministries and institutions from each country.

In this cycle, Djatmiko informed, up to 17 working groups and 3 expert discussion teams will meet again to discuss trade-related issues, including initial discussions on the level of liberalization and trade modalities. goods to be used in the ACI-CEPA Regime.

He believes that the current trade performance of the two countries still does not reflect the true potential of the two countries. Although the total Indonesia-Canada trade data has shown an increase over the last three years (2019-2021).

“In short, there is still a lot of potential and space for the development of economic cooperation between Indonesia and Canada that can be fostered by ACI-CEPA,” he explained.

Djatmiko also hopes that this third round can be a bright spot to discuss new negotiating issues, namely employment, environment and inclusive trade that have been discussed during the expert team discussions. He hoped that the positives of these issues would later help to reconcile the national interests of the two countries.

In general, he appreciated the delegations of the two countries who attended the negotiations with a positive spirit and an open mind to reach a mutually beneficial agreement for the two countries.

“I hope good coordination and cooperation between the two countries will bring meaningful progress to these negotiations,” he added.

The two delegations also agreed to continue the fourth round of negotiations in early 2023 in Indonesia.

Trade results between Indonesia and Canada
In January-August 2022, the total trade between Indonesia and Canada reached 2.9 billion US dollars, a growth of 39.6% compared to the same period of the previous year, which was 2 billions of US dollars. From January to August 2022, Indonesia’s exports to Canada reached US$884 million, while Indonesia’s imports from Canada amounted to US$1.9 billion.

In 2021, Indonesia’s exports were recorded at US$1.06 billion, an increase of 34.75% from 2020 which was recorded at US$789.12 million. Meanwhile, Indonesia’s imports from Canada were recorded at US$2.05 billion, an increase of 27.14% from 2020 of US$1.61 billion.

Indonesia’s main export products to Canada in 2021 are natural rubber, men’s clothing, motor vehicle accessories, tires and textile footwear. Meanwhile, Indonesia’s main import products from Canada are wheat, fertilizers, wood pulp, soybeans and iron ore.