ASIATODAY.ID, DENPASAR – In the margins of the World Water Forum hosted by Indonesia, Musdhalifah Machmud, co-chair of the EUDR Joint Task Force and Senior Advisor for Connectivity, Service Sector, and Natural Resources, Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs for the Republic of Indonesia and Florika Fink-Hooijer, Director-General for the Environment, European Commission met in Bali on 21 May 2024.
Both sides expressed their appreciation of the fruitful cooperation to ensure transition to deforestation-free supply chains through the Joint Task Force. The EU and Indonesia reconfirmed their willingness to ensure uninterrupted trade flows and enhancing deforestation-free supply chains.
They exchanged on the state of preparation for the entry into application of the Regulation. On the IT system, the EU confirmed that it would provide for data privacy and interoperability.
The EU commended Indonesia’s efforts to enhance traceability and transparency of supply chains of sustainable commodities with the National Dashboard Initiative. Both sides will continue to work closely together on its implementation and further developments towards traceability via geolocation.
“The Joint Task Force between Indonesia, Malaysia and the EU is a constructive mechanism for dialogue and finding solutions to matters of high technical complexity, such as forest cover maps, facilitation of the due diligence process and data privacy. The Indonesian Government has established a National Dashboard for sharing information and data for traceability of commodities. The system will help develop relevant capacities and facilitate more efficient operations to export to global markets,” said Musdhalifah Machmud.
The EU welcomed the efforts from Indonesia to include smallholders in the value chain and both sides agreed to involve them further in the next steps.
“I commend Indonesia’s efforts to strengthen and roll out traceability solutions for key commodities such as palm oil, timber, rubber and coffee in the context of the National Dashboard Initiative, thereby contributing to enhance transparent, legal and deforestation-free supply chains EUs is ready to continue working jointly with Indonesia towards enhancing deforestation-free supply chains,” said Director-General Fink-Hooijer.
Indonesia and the EU agreed on technical discussions between the Indonesian authorities and the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre with a view to sharing feedback on relevant forest maps in alignment to the regulation.
Both sides welcomed the forthcoming joint study on legality requirements of the EUDR in the Indonesian context. The study is expected to provide a list of laws and regulations in force in Indonesia to facilitate operators’ and traders’ due diligence obligations. (AT Network)
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