Sri Lanka and Indonesia are seeking to sign a Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) by March 2025 as both countries completed the first round of negotiations last week, the Indonesian Trade Ministry said.
In a statement, Indonesian Trade Ministry said that the first round of negotiations of the PTA already took place virtually earlier this week which zeroed in on the work plan and draft agreement text and that the negotiators are set to enter more substantial chapters in the coming rounds.
“Indonesia and Sri Lanka are … aiming to substantially conclude the negotiations by end-2024. We have also set a target to sign the agreement in March 2025,” the statement said.
Also, both parties are expected to meet for the second round of talks in Colombo on 19-20 June where both countries will discuss the text concept, as well as market access.
During the negotiations launching ceremony held last month, Indonesian Deputy Trade Minister Jerry Sambuaga said the PTA would become a building block to a free trade agreement (FTA) with Sri Lanka.
Unlike the PTA whose scope is still limited, an FTA is more ambitious in nature and usually aims to remove the tariffs across all or most goods. Jakarta also said at the time that the upcoming PTA could help Indonesian goods such as palm oil, paper, and fatty acid to gain better access to the Sri Lankan market.
Indonesia-Sri Lanka trade was valued at $ 369.7 million throughout 2023. About $ 326.6 million of the trade figures were Indonesian exports to Sri Lanka. In January 2024 alone, the bilateral trade amounted to $ 23.5 million.
Indonesia mainly exports copra, petroleum, paper, cartons, tobacco, as well as coal to Sri Lanka. Knitted fabrics and tobacco processing machines were among Indonesia’s top imports from Sri Lanka.
Source: the morning
