RI asks Australia, New Zealand to open their textile markets
Antara, Indonesia
RI asks Australia, New Zealand to open their textile markets
13 May 2008
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia has asked Australia and New Zealand to open their textile and textile product markets under a free trade arrangement (FTA) with ASEAN.
"We are asking that textiles whose import tariffs are between 3.5 and 17.5 percent are included on the list of products whose tariffs are reduced," Director of Regional Affairs of the External Trade Cooperation Directorate General of the Trade Ministry, Iman Pambagyo, said here on Tuesday.
So far, only China has obtained zero-tariff facilities for textile and textile product exports from the two countries.
Iman said that Indonesia had the chance to increase its textile and textile product exports to Australia and New Zealand.
"But we have to focus on excellent products that need free tariffs. Not all of our exports will be proposed to obtain zero tariff facilties. We are scaling our priorities on products that would be proposed to obtain zero-tariffs," he said.
For this, the government will ask textile and textile industries to list their products which could be exported to Australia, he said.
On the occasion, Iman said that Indonesia has also proposed a zero-to-zero concept for its automotive and footwear exports.
"Australian and New Zealand markets are good for textiles, footwear and automotive products, particularly spare parts," he said.(*)
