Remove trade curbs, India to Indonesia

India has asked Indonesia to remove non-tariff barriers on imports of pharmaceutical products as part of measures to boost two-way commerce. In a meeting with Indonesian Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu on Thursday, Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said Indonesia would benefit from India's cost-effective drugs and other pharmaceutical products.

"Indian pharmaceutical products are exported to many countries, including highly regulated markets of the US, Europe, Japan and Australia," an official release quoted Nath as saying.

The issue of removing non-tariff barriers on carbon black, wheat flour, uncoated writing, printing paper and milk products was also discussed for increasing the flow of goods between the two countries, it stated.

Trade between India and Indonesia in 2006-07 was USD 6.20 billion, a jump of 41.22 per cent over the previous year. India imported goods worth USD 4.17 billion and exported items valued at USD 2.03 billion.

A joint study on an economic cooperation agreement is to be completed by June this year. The second meeting of a Joint Study Group formed for the purpose is proposed to be held at New Delhi in February.

Nath said there is a lot of scope for widening the trade basket, particularly in services sector. He told his counterpart that Indian banks were interested in buying stakes in financial institutions of that country and invited investments from Indonesia in the banking sector here. State Bank of India and Bank of India have already started operations in Indonesia.