the chair of ASEAN in 2023, Indonesia aims to realize a long-term sustainable and inclusive growth, thus the implementation of IPEF is expected to strengthen Indonesia's attempts to achieve this objective. Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia's proposal that critical mineral issues be included in the discussion of the Pillar I of Trade of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) was supported by member countries of the forum.ccording to the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs' press statement that ANTARAreceived here Sunday, the proposal was conveyed by Coordinating EconomicMinister Airlangga Hartartoatthe IPEF Ministerial Meeting, held in Detroit, Michigan, USA, on Saturday (May 27, 2023). The ministers of seven ASEAN member countries who attended the meeting agreed to support Indonesia's proposal.Australia also gave a positive response to it. Furthermore, Hartarto stated that along with partners from Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, Indonesia will support the attempts to bolster free as well as open trade and investment through the cooperation framework in the IPEF. "As the chair of ASEAN in 2023, Indonesia aims to realize a long-term sustainable and inclusive growth, thus the implementation of IPEF is expected to strengthen Indonesia's attempts to achieve this objective," he remarked. The IPEF is expected to provide various concrete economic benefits, such as opening new market opportunities for micro, small, and medium enterprises, increasing employees' wage rates, as well as reducing commodity prices. To realize such benefits, Indonesia and a number of IPEF member countries had developed a joint commitment and initiative, called the Bali Initiative for Tangible Benefitscontaining practical and concrete steps to realize IPEF. The initiative was jointly drafted by Brunei, Fiji, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam on the sidelines of the second IPEF negotiations in Bali, Indonesia, in March 2023. In addition to those seven countries, the country members of IPEF include Australia, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Philippines, and the United States. Those countries represent more than 40 percent of the global economy and 28 percent of global trade in goods and services. There are four main pillars in the IPEF, namely Pillar I of Trade, Pillar II of Supply Chain, Pillar III of Clean Economy, and Pillar IV of Fair Economy. When opening the meeting, Ambassador of United States Trade of Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai expressed her hope that a number of chapters in the Pillar I could be agreed before the IPEF Leaders Meeting in November 2023. Several chapters in the Pillar I include trade facilitation, technical assistance and economic cooperation, good regulatory practices, and services domestic regulations.
Source: Antara News Agency