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| The conclusion of trade negotiations with Indonesia is excellent news. |
| Brusel, 23.09.2025 |
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| The European Union will conclude an important free trade agreement with Indonesia on Tuesday after nine years of negotiations, which is good news for Europeans. In an exclusive phone interview with TASR, European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security Maroš Šefčovič confirmed this on Monday (September 22). Šefčovič confirmed that on Tuesday, together with Indonesian Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto, they will finalize the economic partnership agreement. Both of them were negotiating the final points of the contract on Monday. "This is a free trade agreement that we consider groundbreaking because it involves a country with 283 million inhabitants, it is the largest Muslim country and the largest country in ASEAN," said Šefčovič. He noted that the current mutual trade between both parties, which stands at 28 billion euros annually for goods and nine billion euros for services, lags behind the potential indicated by the EU's trade agreement with Vietnam and trade flows with Thailand and Malaysia, which are smaller than Indonesia.He pointed out that from Slovakia's perspective, it is important that the EU has managed to reduce 98.5 percent of all existing tariffs to zero. "This is important news for the automotive industry because tariffs here go from 50 percent to zero. This also applies to auto parts. In the engineering industry, it's from 30 percent to zero," explained Šefčovič. He claims that this is good news for farmers as the Union exports agri-food products to Indonesia worth about one billion euros annually. The agreement means that the previously high tariffs of 20 to 30 percent will be gradually removed, while the EU will protect the interests of European farmers for "sensitive" products such as sugar, rice, or eggs and guarantee protection for over 220 products with protected geographical indications. "We believe that European exports to Indonesia can grow by more than 30 percent in a short time," he added. The Slovak Commissioner said that on the occasion of the agreement's conclusion, an important business forum was convened with the participation of chambers of commerce. He expressed hope that this new political and trade framework created for entrepreneurs on both sides will translate into real contacts. Currently, EU exports to Indonesia support around 200,000 jobs. "The closed agreement on paid customs duties alone will save European exporters more than 600 million euros annually," Šefčovič stated, whose mission on behalf of the EU executive will not end on Tuesday in Jakarta: on Wednesday, he has working meetings in Malaysia as part of his Southeast Asia tour, including with ASEAN countries, and will then travel to Vietnam. Šefčovič specified that after Tuesday's signing of the agreement, there will be a process for its legal fine-tuning in the EU Council, and subsequently the agreement will be endorsed by member states and the European Parliament. According to him, the European Commission believes that the contract will be ratified and signed in the course of 2026, so that it can begin.odkaz na stránku |
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