Jakarta (ANTARA) – Indonesian Minister of Trade Zulkifli Hasan and Malaysian Minister of International Trade and Industry Tengku Zafrul Aziz inked the Indonesia-Malaysia Border Trade Agreement (BTA) update in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Thursday.Indonesian President Joko Widodo and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim directly witnessed the inking that was conducted in Perdana Putra, Putrajaya, Malaysia. The two governments welcome the signing of the agreement expected to provide major benefits for the two countries’ citizens living in border areas. “Indonesian citizens who live in the Indonesia-Malaysia border are an inseparable part of this country,” he noted through a written statement on Thursday. “Because of this, the president is very happy over the resolution of the BTA update expected to help meet the demand of our citizens, who reside in the border,” he remarked. Since being implemented on August 24, 1970, the BTA was updated after taking into account the latest circumstances and conditions, including fulfillment of the people’s needs, mechanism regulation, and supervision improvement. The BTA review was first undertaken on July 21-22, 2009, in Bandung, West Java, until a substantive agreement was reached during the eighth meeting on March 21, 2022. In future, the follow up of this agreement resolution would require attention, specifically in terms of ratification, dissemination, and implementation supervision. To this end, solid cooperation between the central government and regional governments is deemed crucial. “After this update is implemented, there should be dissemination (of information) to border citizens, so they can understand and utilize it well,” Hasan noted. “Moreover, all stakeholders are expected to collectively monitor the implementation. I expect that the central and regional governments can synergize in these two things,” he stated. Meanwhile, Ministry of Trade’s International Trade Negotiation Director General Djatmiko Bris Witjaksonostated that BTA differs from other forms of trade cooperation, such as the free trade agreement. This is despite the fact that the two countries are ASEAN members and that zero-percent customs should have applied. “However, in BTA, several exceptions to the export and import requirements were given, with the goal of not burdening our people in the border,” he explained. fter it was signed, the two countries will continue the ratification process in accordance with the provisions applied in each country before the BTA is implemented and can facilitate people in the border area.

Source: Antara News Agency