MINISTER PROPOSES MODIFICATION OF ACFTA TARIFF LINES

Jakarta, Jan 14 (ANTARA) - Industry Minister M.S. Hidyat said his ministry had proposed for the modification and the delay of their implementation of a number of tariff lines of commodities listed under the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area (ACFTA) agreement.

"We cannot avoid the ACFTA agreement but we have submit inputs for renegotiations and modifications of a number of points in the agreement to the coordinating minister for economic affairs," Hidayat said here on Thursday.

He made the remarks after kicking off a discussion on the growth and efficiency of the Indonesian service sector.

The minister said renegotiations would be carried out this month at the latest. The government has also begun issuing notifications for the negotiation of 228 tariff lines.

The agreement on the reduced tariffs of commodities in the list under the ACFTA is effective as of January 1, 2010.

"It is the government program to issue notifications for the renegotiations of the 228 tariff posts," the minister said.

He said that his ministry had proposed that certain points of the agreement should be modified such as that for steel. "We ask that its implementation be delayed until 2012," he said.

The minister said that thee were agreements in the ACFTA that were negotiable in nature, where the implementation of reduced tariffs on certain commodities could be delayed until 2012 and 2018.

"Some of these include textile products, steel, footwear, electronic and chemicals," he said.