US mulls investment accord with Indonesia ahead of FTA - US official |
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Tue, 23 Jan 2007 05:05
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WASHINGTON (XFN-ASIA) - The United States is looking into signing an investment treaty with Indonesia this year to set the pace for a larger free trade pact that could boost bilateral trade by up to 40 pct, a US official said.An investment accord, the cornerstone of any US free trade agreement (FTA), with Jakarta is among Washington's top priorities for Southeast Asia in 2007, David Katz, the director of Southeast Asia and Pacific affairs in the US Trade Representative's office, said.'A bilateral investment treaty, which is effectively the investment chapter of an FTA, is something we are exploring,' Katz said.The United States forged a trade and investment framework agreement (TIFA) in 1996 with Jakarta but the largest Southeast Asian nation plunged into financial and political turmoil a year later as a result of a regional currency crisis.However, since President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono came to power in September 2004 as Indonesia's first directly elected leader, 'the situation has smoothed out a bit and we were able to intensify our work,' Katz said at a recent forum of the United States-Indonesia Society (USINDO) in Washington.The two countries have held five formal TIFA meetings over the last two years, he said, adding that new forums to develop services and agricultural trade as well as intellectual property rights were also being devised.'All of these initiatives are directly related to provisions of the FTA and part of the building-blocks approach to support and build capacity for FTA,' he said.afp
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