The Chilean government will seek to take its fruit exports to Indonesia through the port of Jakarta, which offers greater advantages than the rest of the places established for the landing of their products. The director general of the Directorate of International Economic Relations of the Chilean Foreign Ministry, Paulina Nazal, told reporters that they were negotiating with the authorities of Indonesia a solution to the problems to ship fruit to that country that arose a couple of years ago.
"We've been experiencing problems getting our fruits into the country for a couple of years, mainly because we can no longer send them through the port of Jakarta, which is our best option due to proximity and cost issues," she said.
"Our products have to enter the country through other ports because of legislation in Indonesia, which increases costs for our exporters, mainly because of a difference in rates. This is the issue we are trying to solve. "
The President of Chile, Michelle Bachelet, and a large official delegation arrived on Thursday to Indonesia. Bachelet's State visit includes, among other activities, an audience with the Indonesian President, Joko Widodo. Nazal said that Bachelet's visit to Indonesia was fundamental to try to solve the problem afflicting Chilean fruit exports.
"We are in a technical stage, we have the documents to verify that Chile is a safe country regarding its food treatment and also that we are free of the fruit fly," she said.
The government official also said that Chile and Indonesia were negotiating a free trade agreement, and that they currently were in the stage of defining the good's tariffs, sanitary and phytosanitary procedures, rules of origin, customs procedures, and obstacles to trade.
She stated that Indonesia was a market with a huge potential for Chile, which will seek to increase its exports of fruit, wine, salmon, forest products, and a slightly more sophisticated offer of manufactured products and chemical pulp.
The first round of negotiation of the agreement took place in 2014. The second round was held last March and the third one will be held in June in the Chile's capital. The goal is to conclude this process this year.
Bachelet's visit to Indonesia seeks to strengthen bilateral political and economic ties, as Chile gives great importance to its relations with Southeast Asia nations.
The South American nation is interested in concluding the negotiations of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) this year to reduce access barriers for Chilean products and to increase the bilateral trade balance, which amounted to 224 million dollars in 2016.
Indonesia is the fourth most populous nation in the world with 259 million inhabitants and the most powerful economy of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which has a population of 625 million people.
Source: Notimex