Indonesia Asks New Zealand to Lower Import Duty

Jakarta (Antara Bali) - Indonesia has asked New Zealand and Australia to lower import duties on two export products from Indonesia-herbicides and insecticides-from 5 percent to zero percent under the ASEAN-Australia New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (AANSFTA).

"To increase trade with Indonesia, import duties for herbicide and insecticide, which are high at 5 percent need to be made zero percent," said Industry Minister Airlangga Hartarto here on Thursday.

Airlangga said this after holding a meeting with the Ambassador of New Zealand to Indonesia, Trevor Matheson at the Industry Ministry Building, Jakarta.

Meanwhile, the Director General of Security and Development Access International Industry, Ministry of Industry, Harjanto explained, there are two ASEAN member countries that export herbicide and insecticide to New Zealand, namely Indonesia and Malaysia.

Unfortunately, since the cooperation agreement has been in force, the import duty for Indonesian products is higher than for Malaysia, which is zero percent.

This makes the products from Malaysia more competitive than the products from Indonesia.

"Herbicide and insecticide is used by New Zealand for work on the farm. We hope products from Indonesia can be as competitive as from Malaysia through the liberalization of this market," said Harjanto.

Harjanto speculated that outside the AANZ FTA agreement, Malaysia and New Zealand have other agreements, which allow import duties for Malaysian products to be zero percent.

According to data from the Industry Ministry, trade value between Indonesia and New Zealand reached US$1.07 billion, of which Indonesia is experiencing a deficit of US$200.8 million.

Harjanto hoped that with zero percent import duty, the trade balance between Indonesia and New Zealand would become more balanced, so that cooperation between the two countries can be strengthened further.(WDY)