RI To Evaluate Economic Coop With Japan: Minister

Jakarta, Oct 4 (Antara) - Indonesia will evaluate its cooperation with Japan, especially in the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) scheme, which has been effective since its signing in 2007, said Hatta Rajasa. The Indonesian coordinating minister for economic affairs made this statement on Friday, before the start of the bilateral meeting on the economy between Indonesia and Japan at Hotel Marriot in Nusa Dua, Bali. "It is time to evaluate the cooperation and look into the effectiveness of the EPA," he said. Hatta said its implementation needed to be reviewed although a number of its programmes have been carried out. The EPA was signed in Jakarta on August 27, 2007, by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe but was implemented only in 2008. Japan has so far signed EPAs with several other countries such as Mexico, Chili and six other ASEAN member countries. Japan has kept seeking EPAs in Asia and the Europe Union. The EPA is based on three things - liberalisation (market access opening), facilitation (easy access to markets), and cooperation (capacity improvement). The three aspects attracted Japan to Indonesia as the former could position the country on an equal basis (as partner) so that its implementation could benefit both the parties. Bilateral trade between Japan and Indonesia has continued to increase every year and is expected to soar by around 20 percent, following the signing of the EPA. However, the most important thing is actually trade balance. Most Japanese investors have so far been operating in automotive, trade, machinery, and electronic sectors. Currently, around one thousand Japanese multi-national companies are operating in the country, absorbing around 280 thousand workers.