JAKARTA, July 11 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia and the Eurasian Economic Commission agreed to accelerate the signing of the Indonesia-Eurasian Economic Union Free Trade Agreement (I-EAEU FTA) during a virtual meeting held on Thursday.
The meeting was attended by Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto, and the Eurasian Economic Commission's Member of the Board-Minister in Charge of Trade, Andrey Slepnev.
Previously, the two ministers met in Jakarta on May 29 and on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on June 20, resulting in a joint statement regarding the substantial completion of the FTA negotiations.
"We welcome the results achieved by the negotiating team. This marks an important step towards finalizing the I-EAEU FTA," Airlangga said in a press release on Thursday evening.
He noted that both sides reiterated their strong commitment to immediately begin the domestic legal processes necessary to lead to the signing of the Indonesia-EAEU FTA.
Both sides are also targeting the completion of the legal scrubbing process as soon as possible, so that the agreement can be finalized and officially signed in December 2025.
Airlangga regarded the I-EAEU FTA -- with a combined population of 460 million -- as a critical component for market diversification and boosting Indonesia's national economic resilience.
According to the Ministry, Indonesia-EAEU trade increased by 84.40 percent in the first quarter of 2025 to 1.57 billion U.S. dollars, while EAEU investments in Indonesia increased by 273.7 million dollars, more than twice the total amount in 2023. ■