Malcolm Turnbull had been due to travel to Indonesia next week as part of a trip through South-East Asia and the Pacific. Officials felt they could resolve lingering disagreements on the FTA by then, and were planning for Mr Turnbull and Indonesian leader Joko Widodo to announce during the visit that the two nations had struck a deal. But the final timetable for agreement and signatures is now deeply uncertain.
The two leaders would not have signed the actual document, but declared that agreement had been reached, offering them a chance to laud a new era in the relationship. Both nations were planning a signing ceremony sometime in September or October.
But according to ABC news, officials are saying incoming Prime Minister Scott Morrison is highly unlikely to travel to Jakarta only one week after taking the reins of Government. That means Australian and Indonesian officials will now need to negotiate a new strategy for making the announcement and publicly inking the deal. The delay could be exacerbated if the current Trade Minister Steve Ciobo takes a new position in the Morrison Government.
Mr Turnbull has previously declared that a “high quality” free trade agreement could transform the strategic relationship between Australia and Indonesia and boost economic ties. But the Government has been forced to narrow the scope and ambition of the deal because of strong protectionist sentiments in Indonesia.
Both countries have previously promised an agreement was imminent, but they’ve already missed a deadline to finalise it by the end of last year. Officials have been keen to stress this delay won’t kill the agreement, and they remain confident it will be announced — and then signed — before too long.
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Source: www.abd.net.au/news/2018-08-24
