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INDONESIAN Deputy Trade Minister Jerry Sambuaga stated that digitalization was one of the references to facilitate trade in goods and services in order to increase efficiency in economic relations of ASEAN, Australia, and New Zealand.
“Digitalization is one of the references that shortens and streamlined from a practical standpoint, how supply chains and the like can be adopted and implemented more practically,” he stated after the ASEAN Economic Ministers’ (AEM) Meeting-Closer Economic Relations (CER) Consultations in Semarang, Central Java, Tuesday (8/22), 2023.
Economic ministers of ASEAN countries, the Timor-Leste minister, New Zealand’s State Minister for Trade and Export Growth, Rino Tirikatene, and Australian Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tim Watts, attended the AEM Meeting-CER Consultations.
Economic cooperation between the ASEAN, Australia, and New Zealand entered a new phase after the signing of the second protocol of the amendments of the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (AANZFTA) on Monday (Aug 21).
The AEM ministerial meeting with the delegations of Australia and New Zealand in the AEM Meeting-CER Consultations also discussed the second AANZFTA protocol. The issue of digitalization for the economic efficiency activity is also one of Indonesia’s Priority Economic Deliverable in the 55th AEM.
Sambuaga elaborated that the second AANZFTA amendment protocol will also increase trade in goods and services, provide opportunities for business actors and investors, facilitate business climate certainty, increase the adoption of digital technology, and provide numerous opportunities in areas of information cooperation and capacity building of MSMEs for the ASEAN, Australia, and New Zealand.
The second AANZFTA amendment protocol will enter into force in 60 days after Australia, New Zealand, and four ASEAN countries complete the ratification. Indonesia, as the Chair of ASEAN 2023, targets the implementation of the second AANZFTA amendment protocol to be applied in 2024.
The second AANZFTA amendment protocol was signed by Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand. Economic ministers from other countries in ASEAN will sign the amendment of AANZFTA alternately or ad referendum. [antaranews/photo special]
