PHILIPPINES ASKS INDONESIA
TO BUY MORE AGRI PRODUCTS
By Manny Piñol
Agricultural trade negotiators from the Philippines and Indonesia will start a two-day agricultural trade negotiations in Jakarta today to correct the trade imbalance greatly in favor of Indonesia.
Indonesia exports $1-B worth of agricultural products to the Philippines mainly palm oil while allowing only a measly $50-million of exports from the Philippines.
The restrictive export requirements of Indonesia have made it difficult for Philippine Agricultural products to enter the country.
The Philippines used to export a huge volume of horticultural products to Indonesia, including Shallots and Tobacco.
Restrictive import policies imposed by Indonesia, however, tilted the trade balance in favor of Indonesia.
Following the engagements between President Rody Duterte and Indonesian President Joko Widodo, however, Indonesia has softened on its restrictive policies.
Earlier this year, following President Widodo’s visit to Manila, President Duterte’s long-time friend and former North Sulawesi Governor Dr. Sinyo Harry Sarundaja was named Ambassador to the Philippines.
Last month, Ambassador Sarundaja met with the Philippine Agriculture Secretary to reopen trade negotiations with Manila.
In the meeting held at the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) office in Manila, the DA Secretary and the Indonesian Ambassador signed a joint declaration to start “friendly and brotherly” negotiations to allow more Philippine agricultural products to enter Indonesia.
The joint declaration also called for the formation of negotiating teams from both countries to start talks in Jakarta.
The Philippine team composed of negotiators from the International Affairs Division of the DA flew to Jakarta yesterday, Dec. 18 for the two-day negotiations which will start today, Dec. 19.
The Philippines aims to drastically correct the trade deficit of about $950-million by convincing Indonesia to ease up on its export protocols.
“I received direct instructions from President Widodo to start this friendly and brotherly engagement with the Philippines,” Ambassador Sarundaja assured the DA Secretary.
Indonesians consider Filipinos their closest “blood relatives” in the ASEAN because of historical facts that the present day Filipinos are descendants of Bornean Datus who migrated from what is now Indonesia to the Philippine islands.
This is strengthened by the fact that Filipino dialects use hundreds of Bahasa Indonesia words.
(Photos of the talks between the DA Secretary and Ambassador Sarundaja were taken recently at the BPI Office of the DA Secretary.)
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