Jaipur –

Indonesian Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan together with World Trade Organization (WTO) Director General Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala took the time to discuss 3 important issues related to international trade even though they only met for a short time. The two men met after the first session of the G20 Trade and Ministers Meeting (TIMM) in Jaipur, India on Thursday (24/8).

“The G20 agenda is led directly by India’s Commerce Minister, HE Piyush Goyal. Apart from my main agenda, I also held a bilateral meeting. There are several important notes,” Zulhas said in his statement on Friday (8/25/2023). ).

The first discussion of the bilateral meeting that took place on Thursday (8/24) focused on Timor Leste’s plans to join the World Trade Organization. Zulhas said his party fully supports the membership plan.

Earlier, at the 55th ASEAN Economic Ministers’ Meeting (AEM) in Semarang, Central Java, Zulhas said that Timor Leste also hopes to become a full member of ASEAN. Additionally, Timor Leste has requested the Ministry of Commerce to train and upgrade the skills of workers in Indonesian training centers to support Timor Leste’s membership in both ASEAN and the WTO.

Second, his party and the Director General of the WTO discussed monitoring Indonesia’s implementation of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement. Especially in the fishing sector.

The bilateral meeting held in the TIMM G20 India meeting room also discussed new e-commerce policies and digitalization of trade at the WTO. In addition, discussions on Technology in Trade will also be part of the TIMM G20 at the 3rd Multilateral Meeting titled Leveraging Technology for Paperless Trade – Logistics for Trade.

For information, the TIMM G20 India will take place on August 24-25, 2023 at Rambagh Palace, Jaipur, India. Besides holding multilateral and bilateral meetings, Zulhas visited Amber Fort, a UNESCO cultural site located in Rajasthan, India, with delegates from G20 countries.

Zulhas is also expected to attend the Business 20 (B20) meeting. In this series of activities, he was accompanied by Director General of International Trade Negotiations Djatmiko Bris Witjaksono, Special Staff Bara K Hasibuan, Director of Interregional Negotiations and International Organizations Reza Pahlevi Chairul and Indonesian Commercial Attaché in India Bona Kusuma.

(akd/ega)