Jakarta (ANTARA) - Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto held a meeting with the European Union Ambassador to Indonesia and Brunei Darussalam Vincent Piket on Wednesday (May 24) to discuss the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) policy.
The discussion is related to Minister Hartarto's plan with Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister/Minister for Plantation and Commodities Haji Fadillah Bin Haji Yusof to attend the series of activities of the two countries' Joint Mission to the European Union (EU) in Brussels, Belgium, on May 30-31, 2023.
As cited from an official statement received in Jakarta, Wednesday, with the Joint Mission, Hartarto sought to voice the concern of both countries to commissioners and legislators at the European Parliaments regarding the EUDR.
According to the Joint Mission, the EUDR is discriminative in nature and would likely negatively affect market access to several commodities, especially palm oil to the EU.
In the Joint Mission, Indonesia and Malaysia will also discuss possible measures to take to anticipate EUDR's negative effect from burdening related actors, particularly smallholders in the palm oil sector and also in other sectors.
"We would like to emphasize that the EUDR will pose an obstacle to smallholders, as it will force them to comply with administrative procedures required in its provisions," Hartarto said.
He stated that the regulation may exclude smallholders in the global supply chain and fail to acknowledge their significance and rights.
On the occasion, the minister also drew attention to the state of play of the Indonesia-European Union Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IEU-CEPA) negotiations, as earlier discussed by President Joko Widodo and European Commission President Urssula von der Leyen at a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima on May 21, 2023.
The president hoped that the IEU-CEPA negotiations would soon conclude by the end of this year or the start of 2024 at the latest.
At the meeting, both parties extended their commitment to continuing to ramp up the finalization process for talks according to the set target.
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