Republic of Indonesia’s ambassador to Pakistan, Adam Mulawarman Tugio on Wednesday said that both the countries had strong prospects for the proposed bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA), which would strengthen economic and trade ties between the two nations.
He said that the existing Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) has opened up the possibility of increasing bilateral trade.
Owing to the PTA between both the countries, cooperation in the industrial sector as well as agriculture has increased. The ambassador said Indonesia had lately reduced trade tariffs to facilitate Pakistan in 20 trade items in the bilateral PTA review.
He shared that trade had doubled between the two countries since the PTA and Indonesia’s exports had boosted, adding that talks were underway for the reduction in the trade gap between the two countries.
Tugio said that negotiations on ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA) were underway in order to strengthen the economic and trade ties between the countries.
He expressed hope that the agreement of ATIGA would be finalized in the coming year.
Ambassador Tugio added that almost two decades of trade integration efforts between the AMS had led to the ATIGA, starting with the signing of the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) in 1993.
ATIGA, was the forerunner of the ASEAN Plus 1 FTAs, comprising of the recently signed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement, that consolidated and streamlined the provisions in the Agreement on the Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) and other relevant ASEAN agreements broadening its scope.
He shared that ASEAN was a strong trade bloc and ASEAN countries were making efforts to establish trade and economic ties with the world in the future.
Ambassador Tugio added that Pakistan and ASEAN countries had a combined economic and trade market of 870 million people in which trilateral trade between the two sides was only US $ 7.5 billion.
He noted that Pakistan could take full advantage of the three trillion US dollars trade market in ASEAN, which required a comprehensive plan in the future.
The ambassador shared that Pakistan’s geographical location was extremely important as it could connect Central Asian Countries with the world on one side and Western China on the other side for which the Gwadar Port was of immense strategic importance.
Tugio added that ASEAN countries had FTAs with China, Korea, and Japan.
Tugio said that ASEAN countries had the US $ 600 billion annual trade with China, US $ 200 billion with Japan, US $ 150 billion with South Korea, and US $ 300 billion with the United States, which added up to the US $ 1.25 trillion in its annual trade volume.
He highlighted that Pacific Asia was also a key trade partner of ASEAN and the global trade bloc with a worth of US $ 482 billion in annual trade opportunities.
The ambassador said ASEAN countries as well as Pakistan could take advantage of each other’s FTA partners and EU Generalized Schemes of Preferences (GSP- Plus) partners as a third party to enhance bilateral economic cooperation.
The ambassador said that Gwadar Port will contribute significantly in enhancing the economic and trade integration of the world, adding, Pakistan could become a trade hub of the world. Indonesia was an important trading partner of Pakistan in ASEAN countries and the two countries were linked by historical, religious, cultural, and economic ties.
He shared that 45 percent of the Muslim population hailed from ASEAN countries adding that Buddhists also had many religious sites in Pakistan comprising Taxila and Swat could also play a huge role in enhancing cultural, economic and trade ties between both sides.
