RI-Australia's Trade Ministers Discuss Meat Import

Jakarta, Oct 4 (Antara) - Indonesian Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan and his Australian counterpart Andrew Robb met on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministerial Meeting, which is being held from October 4 to 5. "Apart from discussing the possibility of increasing investments to and from both the countries, we also discussed about the normalisation of Australia`s meat export to Indonesia, preparation amid APEC Leaders Meeting from October 7 to 8 in Bali, and the World Trade Organisation`s (WTO) Ministerial Conference to be held in Bali next December," said Gita. On WTO`s Ministerial Conference, Minister Robb expressed hope that the APEC meeting in Bali would contribute positively to the continuation of the Doha Round negotiation. Earlier, Indonesian Trade Ministry`s Director General for International Trade Cooperation Imam Pambagyo said the discussion of main issues at APEC Senior Officials Meeting had proceeded smoothly. Officials were required to finalise the main issues before bringing them up at the APEC Ministerial Meeting to be agreed upon by APEC heads of state/government from October 7 to 8, 2013. "So far, the discussion has been smooth. Issues will be discussed in detail at the next meeting," said Imam, adding that three priorities need to be discussed at the meeting, attended by the leaders of APEC economic members and 1,200 business leaders. He said the first priority is to implement the Bogor Goals agreement, namely the liberalisation of trade and investment by 2010 for developed countries and by 2020 for developing countries. The second is to maintain sustainable growth in the APEC region, and the third is the issue of connectivity related to physical infrastructure and the easy transportation of people, goods, and services. According to him, the three priorities to be discussed are related to the 2009-2014 mid-term development plan in Indonesia.