Indonesia reconsidering TPP plans, eyes bilateral deals

[January 25, 2017]  JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia is interested in pursuing a bilateral economic partnership with the United States after the world's biggest economy abandoned the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) accord, an Indonesian official said on Wednesday.

Southeast Asia's biggest economy is also reconsidering its intention to join the TPP, Dewi Fortuna Anwar, deputy secretary of the office of the vice president, told Reuters.

"Our emphasis going forward is more on a bilateral economic cooperation between the Republic of Indonesia and the U.S.," Anwar said.

"It would be a comprehensive bilateral cooperation, including for trade and investment," she said.

Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla met the U.S. ambassador to Indonesia, Joseph R Donovan, on Wednesday to discuss ways to increase trade between the two economies.

Indonesia will focus on discussions for bilateral trade deals with the European Union and Australia, while monitoring the progress of the TPP, the chairman of Indonesia's investment board, Thomas Lembong, told reporters separately.

"I've seen the Australian trade minister's comment asking for China and Indonesia to join TPP to replace the U.S. I haven't had the chance to speak with him, but I am open to discussion and dialogue," Lembong said.

During a visit to Washington in October 2015, President Joko Widodo told the then U.S. president, Barack Obama, that Indonesia intended to join the Pacific multilateral trade pact.

Australia and New Zealand said on Tuesday they hoped to salvage the TPP by encouraging China and Indonesia, among other Asian countries, to join after new U.S. President Donald Trump kept a promise to abandon the accord.

Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla addresses the United Nations General Assembly in the Manhattan borough of New York, U.S., September 23, 2016. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying on Tuesday did not say directly whether China would be interested in joining the TPP but she said at a time of economic uncertainty, the Asia-Pacific should make its own contributions to growth with openness.

Obama had framed the TPP without China in an effort to write Asia's trade rules before Beijing could, establishing U.S. economic leadership in the region as part of his "pivot to Asia".

China has proposed a counter pact, the Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP) and has championed the Southeast Asian-backed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

Indonesia is the lead negotiator for RCEP for economies in the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).

(Reporting by Gayatri Suroyo and Hidayat Setiaji; Editing by Ed Davies, Robert Birsel)

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