Statement by the Republic of Korea on the 6
thTrade Policy Review of Indonesia
(10:00, Wednesday, 10 April 2013, WTO)
1. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’d like to extend my warmest welcome to the Indonesian delegation headed by Vice Minister Bayu Krisnamurthi. My special thanks also go to the discussant, Ambassador Martin EYJÓLFSSON for his valuable contributions to this review as well as to the Secretariat for its detailed and informative report as usual.
2. First of all, on the macroeconomic indicators of Indonesia, I would like to note, as was laid out in the Secretariat’s report, that Indonesia has made steady economic progress. This has been demonstrated by its average annual GDP growth rate of 5.9% during the review period. Also, it is particularly noteworthy that the Indonesian economy remained strong even in the face of the recent global recession and the 2012 and 2013 forecasts by the World Bank stand at 6.1% and 6.3% respectively. We have also been impressed by the Indonesian government’s ‘2011-2025 Master Plan for the Acceleration and Expansion of Economic Development (MP3EI)’ which we believe lays a solid foundation for higher levels of sustainable growth in Indonesia. In this regard, I am pleased to point out that our government has been cooperating as a major partner for this plan since it was agreed at the summit level by both countries in December 2010.
3. Turning to the bilateral economic relations between Korea and Indonesia, we can easily see that they remain as strong and vibrant as ever. In 2012, the trade volume between the two countries reached 29.6 billion USD with Korea standing as Indonesia’s 7th largest trading partner, and Indonesia positioned as Korea’s 8th largest trading partner. On the investment front, Korea was the 3rd largest investor in Indonesia and Indonesia was the 7th largest investor in Korea in 2012.
4. Looking ahead in order to further our already close economic ties
beyond the Korea-ASEAN FTA, Korea and Indonesia started the CEPA negotiations in April last year. The two governments have a common goal to work towards the conclusion of the negotiation by the end of this year. Again, such an example highlights that bilateral cooperative relations between Korea and Indonesia remain strong and that we do expect them to grow even stronger in the coming decades.
5. On the multilateral front, as Secretariat noted, Indonesia has been actively engaging in the discussions in WTO/DDA. In many ways, Indonesia has demonstrated its trust in the multilateral trading system and its willingness to work hard to move things forward. On this note, I would like to commend the efforts of Indonesia to ensure the successful Ministerial Conference in Bali this year and we are committed to working in a cooperative spirit to this end.
6. We have reviewed the reports prepared by the Indonesian Government and the Secretariat, and submitted advance written questions which address Korea’s interests and concerns on issues such as Import Licensing, Export tax, Subsidies, Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and Competition policy, among others. In this regard, we thank the Indonesian delegation for providing answers to our questions which we will carefully review.
7. I would like to conclude this statement by expressing my appreciation to the Indonesian delegation for its hard work in preparing for today’s meeting, and wish them a very successful TPR. Thank you. /End/
