Free trade agreement with Indonesia to be signed in Jakarta on 16 December
Bern, 12.12.2018 - On 16 December Federal Councillor Johann N. Schneider-Ammann, the economics minister of Liechtenstein and representatives of Iceland and Norway will sign a free trade agreement with Indonesia’s minister for trade, Enggartiasto Lukita. Under the agreement, 98 per cent of Swiss exports to Indonesia, the fourth most populous country in the world, will be exempt from customs duties over the coming years.
The agreement reached by the parties in early November will be signed in the presence of economic and political representatives of the EFTA states and Indonesia, and will make the EFTA states collectively Indonesia’s primary free-trade partner in Europe.
The agreement with Indonesia is comprehensive in scope. It improves market access and legal certainty for trade in goods (industrial and agricultural products) and services. It also includes provisions on investment, the protection of intellectual property, the reduction of non-tariff barriers to trade, including sanitary and phytosanitary measures, on competition, trade facilitation, public procurement, trade and sustainable development, and economic cooperation.
Key elements of the agreement include free access to the Indonesian market for Swiss industrial products and selected agricultural products and rules on trading Indonesian palm oil. Switzerland grants certain market-compatible tariff rebates for this product, applying quotas so as not to jeopardise domestic production of vegetable oils. The agreement also requires the parties to comply with multilateral conventions, including labour and environmental conventions, and contains a specific provision to ensure the sustainable production of the palm oil traded. In a supplementary agreement on intellectual property, Indonesia undertakes to amend its patent protection legislation to comply with its international obligations.
Parliament will commence the process of approving the agreement as soon as it is signed, so that Switzerland can ratify it by 2020 at the latest.
Indonesia is Switzerland’s main economic partner in South East Asia, with a trade volume of around CHF 830 million a year (not including precious metals, precious and semi-precious stones, art works and antiques). Direct Swiss capital investment in Indonesia amounted CHF 6.9 billion at the end of 2016, according to the Swiss National Bank.
Address for enquiries
Irène Harnischberg
EAER Media Spokesperson
Tel. 058 462 20 34,
irene.harnischberg@gs-wbf.admin.ch
Publisher
Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research
http://www.wbf.admin.ch
