JAKARTA, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- An Indonesian senior official said on Wednesday that Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is a strategic move to expand the country's export markets and a short cut to increase investment in the country amid the challenging global economic condition, local media reported here.
"Indonesia adheres to opened economy and trade systems aimed at optimizing the country's economic potentialities for the people's prosperity," Industrial and Trade Deputy at the economic coordinating ministry Edy Putra Irawady said in his remarks to open a seminar discussing opportunities from ASEAN-China FTA ( ACFTA) held here.
"But it must be controlled by a mechanism, not an uncontrolled trade system. No single product can be freely sold across the country's border," he was quoted by the Antara news agency as saying.
Edy said that all parties in Indonesia must regard the FTA as a means to open the economic isolation and pave the way for commodity potentialities in the region to tap fortune in international markets.
Regarding the implementation of ACFTA, he said that government has implemented steps considered necessary to secure domestic market.
Among steps implemented by the government are improving the surveillance efforts in the border areas, improve the compliance of products distributed across the country and promote the usage of local products in domestic market, he added.
Those steps are orchestrated with efforts to boost up export by reinforcing Indonesia's trade representatives in foreign countries, intensify promotion of Indonesia's tourism, trade and investments aimed at grabbing more tourists and investors coming into Indonesia, Edy said.
Besides that, he added that the government would also improve the authority of Indonesian Export Developer agency (LPEI) to provide export financing, develop trading house and overcome the hurdles in export activities.
With ACFTA taking effect since January 1 this year, the government also takes efforts to improve zones designated as Free Trade Zone (FTZ), reorganize the energy infrastructure and provide more financing access for the domestic exporters and improve the country's logistic distribution system.
