The Federal Council announced that on 16 December 2018, Federal Councillor Johann N. Schneider-Ammann, the economics minister of Liechtenstein and representatives of Iceland and Norway signed a free trade agreement with Indonesia’s minister for trade, Enggartiasto Lukita. Under the agreement, 98 percent of Swiss exports to Indonesia, the fourth most populous country in the world, will be exempt from customs duties over the coming years. Technical barriers to trade will be removed, market access for Swiss service providers made easier and bilateral economic relations in general improved. The EFTA states will collectively become Indonesia’s primary trading partner in Europe.
The agreement with Indonesia is comprehensive in scope. It improves market access and legal certainty for trade in goods (industrial and agricultural products) and services. It also includes provisions on investment, the protection of intellectual property, the reduction of non-tariff barriers to trade, including sanitary and phytosanitary measures, on competition, trade facilitation, public procurement, trade and sustainable development, and economic cooperation.