U.S.-Indonesia trade talks focus on textiles, logging issues

U.S.-Indonesia trade talks focus on textiles, logging issues U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab and Indonesia Minister of Trade Mari Pangestu this week agreed to formally establish working groups intended to deepen U.S.-Indonesia economic relations in four key areas: intellectual property rights, agricultural and industrial goods, services and investment.
   Meeting under the U.S.-Indonesia Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) to discuss bilateral, regional and multilateral trade issues, Schwab and Pangestu directed the new working groups to develop specific initiatives in these four areas to further enhance trade and investment ties between the two countries, the U.S. Trade Representative's office said in a statement Wednesday.
   'I am pleased that the United States and Indonesia made additional progress in deepening our trade and investment relationship in our meetings this week,' Schwab said. 'We also discussed how we could work together to advance ASEAN integration and to help achieve a successful outcome to the ongoing WTO Doha Round negotiations. Indonesia is the largest economy in Southeast Asia and a major exporter of both agricultural and manufactured goods, so it has a lot to gain from a successful Doha Round.'
   Schwab said she welcomed the continued cooperation between the two sides to prevent illegal transshipment of textiles and apparel through Indonesia to the United States. An agreement between the two nations signed by Schwab and Pangestu in September provides for customs cooperation, identification of textile and apparel manufacturers, and joint verification visits to provide each country's government with the information necessary to stop textile and apparel transshipments.
   During the TIFA, the two sides also reviewed the progress made on implementation of the bilateral MOU, signed in November, to combat illegal logging and associated trade. Since then, the two sides have met to develop cooperation and agree on specific activities that will be funded with $1 million the United States has dedicated to an MOU designed to promote forest conservation by combating illegal logging and associated trade and to help ensure that Indonesia's legally produced timber and wood products continue to have access to markets in the United States and elsewhere.