GOVT TRYING TO BREAK BARRIERS TO RI'S FISHERY EXPORTS

Denpasar, Bali, Jan 3 (ANTARA) - The government is trying to break barriers to Indonesia's fishery exports, including to the European Union, a minister said.

"Indonesia's fishery exports to the European Union are charged with a 9.5 percent import duty but they liberalize similar products from Vietnam," Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Fadel Muhammad said at Benoa Port in Bali late Saturday.

Speaking at a meeting with the Association of Indonesian Long-line Tuna Producers (ATLI), Fadel said President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had committed himself to break the barriers.

"The head of state has a strong commitment to that effect to make Indonesia's commodities including fishery products more competitive in the international market," Fadel said.

He expressed hope the working meeting of the ministry that would involve fishery businesspeople would be able to identify a number of barriers to the country's fishery exports.

The barriers would later be evaluated to seek the best possible solution, he said.

"If the barriers are related to bilateral relations they will be referred to the president to discuss them with the head of state/government concerned," he said.

Therefore, he added, all inputs from ATLI were very important to identify problems related to the fishery and marine sector, he said.

The effort to overcome a wide range of problems was expected to enable Indonesia to become the world's largest fishery producer by 2015, he said.***2***