Trade ministry discusses technical trade barriers, energy issues with Indonesia

Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan attends a parliamentary industry committee meeting at the National Assembly in Seoul, Sept. 8. Newsis

Working-level trade officials from Korea and Indonesia discussed Friday pending trade issues between the two countries, such as technical barriers to trade and energy cooperation, according to officials.

In a virtual meeting, Seoul officials addressed concerns over Indonesia's revision of its national standard for products and services, called Standard National Indonesia (SNI), stressing that Korean home appliances companies are facing challenges in obtaining SNI certification in a timely manner, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources.

Seoul called on Indonesia to suspend the implementation of SNIs for newly designated items and expand the standard certification system to private institutions.

It also asked the Southeast Asian country to swiftly execute the SNI certification process for requests made by Korean companies.

To address such issues, the two sides discussed setting up a working-level consultative body between the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards and its Indonesian counterpart.

The ministry said the two countries also discussed ways to resolve Korean firms' difficulties in cooperating with Indonesia for liquefied natural gas imports and hydro power projects.