Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan says that Southeast Asian nations are still
studying whether Hong Kong should be made party to the ASEAN-China Free Trade
Agreement (ACFTA).
“We need a comprehensive study
before integrating Hong Kong into ACFTA because the accession should bring real
benefits for all ASEAN members and ACFTA,” Gita told reporters in Jakarta on
Friday.
Gita said that the Chinese
government previously told ASEAN that there had been domestic pressure for
China to sponsor Hong Kong’s accession to the ACFTA.
Hong Kong — a special
administrative region of China — has communicated its desire to join ACFTA to
the secretary-general of ASEAN and to participants of the ASEAN-China FTA Joint
Committee Preparatory Meeting in October, Gita said.
According to the Trade Ministry,
ASEAN is Hong Kong’s second-largest trading partner after China for trade in
goods.
Six ASEAN member states —
Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam — are
among the top 20 trading partners of Hong Kong.
In addition, China is Hong Kong’s
largest partner for trade and services, while ASEAN is its fourth-largest
partner.
“We welcome Hong Kong to join the
ACFTA, but we still have to wait for the study because the decision must be
made according to ASEAN consensus,” Gita added. The study is expected to be complete
early
next year.
Hong Kong financial secretary
John Tsang previously that Hong Kong’s advantage in financial services would
help ASEAN member nations to obtain financing for their trade, Antara news
agency reported.
Hong Kong’s strategic position as
a logistics hub between ASEAN member nations and China would also be a great
help to the association, Tsang said.
Separately, Gita said that
Indonesian officials at the 44th ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting also signed a
bilateral agreement with Cambodia to import 100,000 tons of rice.
Indonesia previously signed deals
with Thailand and Vietnam giving it the option to import rice in 2012.
Gita said that the government
would continue to import rice to maintain buffer stocks due to forecasts
predicting erratic weather.
“We will experience more weather
anomalies in the near future while Indonesians consume a lot of rice — 140
kilograms per capita per year. Thus, we need up to 3 million tons as a buffer
stock,” he said.
Bulog (State Logistics Agency)
previously estimated that the nation’s rice production would top 38 million
tons by the end of the year, up 4.3 percent from 2011.
With an assumption that total
rice consumption this year will reach approximately 32.5 million tons, the
government is expecting a 5.5 million-ton surplus at the end of the year.
Indonesia is the world’s
third-largest rice consumer, with an annual intake of 139 kilograms per capita.
Despite being self-sufficient in
2008 and 2009, the country started to import rice after stockpiles fell and
harvests failed in 2010.
In 2011, Indonesia imported 1.9
million tons of rice from Thailand, Vietnam and India, to ensure it had
plentiful stocks and to avoid stoking food inflation.
“If we could decrease our consumption
to 100 kilogram [per capita per year], we would not need to import rice,” Gita
said.
Nurfika Osman
Business & Investment Opportunities
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