Indonesia’s Ministry of Trade (MOT) does not currently have a formal objective framework for considering and prioritising service sector offensive and defensive interests. The MOT sometimes uses certain indicators that might not consider relevant competitiveness and market access conditions. International Economics, therefore, is providing support to the MOT in identifying future priority service sector for negotiations.
The services sector is the most dynamic and promising sector of nearly any economy, and Indonesia is no exception. Indonesia, traditionally an industrial economy focused on the production of oil and gas, minerals, crude palm oil, electrical appliances, and rubber products, in recent years, transformed itself into a fully-fledged services economy. Given the increasing importance of trade in services, both as a part of the economy and as part of trade negotiations, trade policymakers must, whenever they are conducting negotiations with a possible preferential trading partner, be able to effectively determine whether a particular sector must be protected or liberalised, i.e. to determine the sector’s offensive and defensive interests. The aim of this activity is to support the MOT to identify future priority service sector for negotiations.