JAKARTA, May 5 (Xinhua) -- Indonesian Industrial Minister MS Hidayat said that Indonesia and the European Union (EU) would set up a joint commission tasked to discuss standards of trade commodities between the two economies, local media reported here on Thursday.

Hidayat said that the discussions would set up detailed standards approved by respective authorities. According to the minister, the would-be discussed joint standards will be implemented in each commodity sector involved in trade between the two economies.

"Those involved in the commission would launch their arguments in the discussions to draft the commodity standard," Hidayat said on the sidelines of an Indonesian-EU officials meeting here as quoted by the tempointeraktif.com.

The minister said that the discussions are highly expected to make Indonesian businessmen understand the European commodity standards, thus enabling them to produce commodities that are in conformity with EU standards.

For instance, Hidayat said that EU does not prefer Indonesian palm oil commodities produced from oil palm trees planted on peat land.

Previously, Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu expected a 20 percent trade growth between the two economies this year, or equivalent to last year's figure. "That trade growth target was considerably high," the minister said, adding that trade growth with Europe reached a range of 10 to 15 percent in years before the global financial crisis hit in 2008-2009.

Indonesia's total export to EU reached 17 billion U.S. dollars, while EU's export to Indonesia reached 27 billion U.S. dollars in 2010.

May 5^th, 2011

Source: Xinhua News

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