RI to open labor market for Japan
RI to open labor market for Japan
Business and Investment - March 10, 2006
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The government will open up the domestic labor market in certain sectors to Japanese workers as part of the liberalization of the service sector envisaged under a planned bilateral economic partnership agreement (EPA), a minister said Thursday.
"We haven’t started the negotiations for the service sector yet. However, we are likely to offer Japan one of the seven labor sectors already agreed under the World Trade Organization (WTO) liberalization plan," said Trade Minister Mari E. Pangestu.
Under the WTO plan, the labor market in seven sectors, including telecommunications and energy, will have to be opened up to foreign competition.
Mari said that in exchange, the Indonesian government would request the Japanese government to provide greater access to Indonesian nurses and other skilled personnel to work in Japan.
The two countries officially agreed to arrange an EPA during a visit by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to Tokyo in June of last year. It is expected that the EPA will help boost trade and investment between the two countries. The first round of negotiations was held last July, and the talks recently entered their third round.
While Japan has been pushing for a December deadline for the finalization of the EPA, Indonesia insists on taking things more slowly.
Japan is currently Indonesia’s second largest trading partner, accounting for 14.5 percent of Indonesia’s exports and 17.11 percent of its imports in 2005.
It is also the largest foreign investor in the manufacturing sector, with a cumulative investment of US$38.2 billion involving 587 companies as of September 2005.
