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The Indonesian government is confident that the newly established free trade agreement (FTA) between China and ASEAN countries will benefit Indonesia more than China as it will enable the country to boost its exports in the Chinese market.
Budi Darmadi, director of regional cooperation at the Indonesian Ministry of Industry and Trade, predicted that the country could raise some 110 million US dollars in revenue from the export of agricultural and fish products to China next year when the agreement is scheduled to come into effect.
"We are confident that our products will be able to compete in Chinese markets, especially fish products. We are very strong in the fisheries sector," Budi was quoted by the Jakarta Post as saying Monday.
"The agreement will give us (Indonesia) chances to export more products to China in the future," he added.
China and Southeast Asian countries signed last Monday an historic agreement to create the world's largest FTA, embracing 1.7 billion people and trade worth 1.2 trillion US dollars.
Under the agreement, China and the Association of southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed to first carry out an "early harvest package" over three years. During this period, each country will also start cutting import tariffs on selected products to between zero percent and five percent.
The products covered under the early harvest package include live animals, meat, fish, dairy products, live trees, vegetables, fruit and nuts.
The FTA is expected to be complete in 2010 between China and the six of the ASEAN members of Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Meanwhile, for the less-developed ASEAN nations of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, the completion of the FTA was pushed back until 2015.
Data from China's Ministry of Trade and Economic Cooperation showed that Indonesia's exports to China in 2001 totaled 3.88 billion US dollars, while Indonesia's imports from China totaled 2.83 billion dollars.
Trade between ASEAN countries and China registered a record high in 2001, totaling 41.62 billion dollars.
(Xinhua News Agency November 11, 2002)
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