ndonesia needs to ensure regulatory stability and reduce trade barriers to attract more European investment as it prepares to implement its trade deal with the European Union, says Denis Chaibi, the outgoing EU Ambassador to Indonesia and Brunei Darussalam.
“Most of the European businesses will be happy with rules because that’s the environment in Europe, lots of rules, but to have stable rules, rules that don’t change or policies that don’t change often,” Chaibi told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
“I think regulatory stability is the first element,” he added.
Chaibi said concerns over Indonesia’s regulatory environment had deterred some European investors, while reducing nontariff barriers would help companies import raw materials and export finished products as part of global value chains.
Meanwhile, wider recognition of European halal certification processes could facilitate trade and investment, he said.
The country also needed to move quickly to take advantage of tariff-free access to the bloc under the Indonesia-EU Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IEU-CEPA), said Chaibi, as competing Southeast Asian economies were also securing preferential access to the EU.
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“The CEPA is a very good platform of engagement that brings Indonesia at the level of competitiveness in the region of the countries that already have a free trade agreement [FTA] or will have one soon,” he said.