EPA yet to set quota for Indonesian workers
Jakarta Post
EPA yet to set quota for Indonesian workers
23 June 2007
TOKYO (Antara): Final draft of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between Indonesia and Japan has not ruled a quota for Indonesian skilled workers to be employed in Japan, an Indonesiantop official said Saturday.
According to Director General for Workers Placement of the Ministry of Manpower Myra M Hanartani referred to a manpower cooperation between the two countries stipulated in EPA, whose final draft agreed late Friday.
The heads of governments are expected to sign the EPA in mid-August.
Japan is imposing a tight legal provision in the immigration field which bans the entry into Japan of non-skilled foreign workers but Japan still allows foreigners to come to Japan for a limited apprentice program.
Myra said there was a loophole the two countries could use to open Japan’s work market. It was the loophole that could be utilized through certain format in the EPA, she said.
"With that, Japan is now ready to receive nurses and attendants for tending its senior citizens," she said.
The two countries formulated the EPA in an effort to increase their economic cooperation.
After the completion of the internal procedure, the document would be brought to Jakarta in mid-August for signing by the heads of state of the two countries, namely Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
The government has projected Japanese investment in Indonesia at US$140 billion to $160 billion, double those in the last 50 years.
Rachmat Gobel of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) hoped the Indonesia-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement would create balanced and mutually beneficial economic relations.
