Indonesia and Australia signed comprehensive economic partnership agreement

JAKARTA, Mar 5, 2019, ANTARA News. Industry Minister Airlangga Hartarto views the signing of the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IA-CEPA) as a new milestone in the Indonesian and Australian bilateral relations, reported the ANTARA.

The CEPA not only covers agreements on trade, services, and investment but also on wider economic cooperation.

“The coverage of CEPA will have a positive impact on the Indonesian and Australian economies in the long term,” Hartarto noted in a statement, here, Tuesday.

Through the IA-CEPA, the partnership concept will make Indonesia and Australia an economic powerhouse, notably a collaboration of the two countries` comparative excellence to boost export productivity and competitiveness in third counties.

Moreover, in the service and investment fields, the IA-CEPA will provide a stimulus for Indonesian investors to invest their money in the higher education field and vocation, particularly related to culinary arts.

Australia`s investment will upgrade the quality of Indonesian human resources in the processed food industry in Indonesia.

Indonesia`s workers will also receive facilities to obtain work holiday and training visas in Australia.

Under the IA-CEPA framework, the two countries will have an opportunity to establish economic cooperation in developing a food innovation center that will provide input from food research to Indonesia`s processed food industry.

The minister said the IA-CEPA is special, as it has involved the private sector since the start of its negotiation.

The Indonesia-Australia Business Partnership Group (IA-BPG) has offered views and inputs during the negotiation process and a feasibility study of the IA-CEPA since the initiation of the talks.

Hartarto expressed hope that the involvement of private sector businessmen will continue to increase following the signing of the agreement.

The IA-CEPA was officially signed by Indonesian Minister of Trade Enggartiasto Lukita and Australian Minister of Trade, Tourism, and Investment Simon Birmingham in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Monday.

The agreement had been negotiated since 2010 but was halted until November 2013. Later, in March 2016, the agreement was reactivated.

Reporting by Stella Garetta, fardah