On Monday, 26 February, a source from the European Commission informed us that the 4th round of talks for an agreement on trade and investment between the EU and Indonesia on 19-23 February in Surakarta obtained progress in the chapters of the future agreement on sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS), technical barriers to trade and investment services.
Our source explained that, “During this round, the teams made progress on the chapters on food and plant health, technical barriers to trade, investment and services. Talks were held in a constructive spirit”.
The negotiating teams tackled all the questions covered by the future agreement, including trade in goods, technical barriers to trade, services, investments, the investment court system, rules of origin, trade and sustainable development, intellectual property rights and government procurement.
Last week, 60 European and Indonesian NGOs headed by Friends of the Earth highlighted their concerns about the threats related to the agreement and called for a moratorium on new concessions for palm oil (see EUROPE 11968). (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)