Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto, stated that with this ruling, the world must acknowledge Indonesia's palm oil-based biodiesel.
"This victory is proof that Indonesia can fight and win. Especially in terms of palm oil, we fought in REDD, and we won, so the biodiesel policy we have adopted must be accepted by the world. It's not just biodiesel from rapeseed, soybean, and other sources, but also from CPO," said Airlangga to reporters at his office in Jakarta on Friday (17/1/2025).
Following the WTO ruling, the EU has been given a deadline to stop discriminating against Indonesia's palm oil products.
"This means they are given time to stop discriminating against Indonesian products. (Whether or not they comply) the important thing is we won first. Whether they implement it or not, we'll see," Airlangga explained.
In addition, Airlangga mentioned that the WTO decision would impact the EU’s Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). "They have somewhat acknowledged it by delaying the implementation, which was supposed to be this year, by one year. This gives Indonesia and Malaysia time to strengthen our strategy so that palm oil is no longer discriminated against," he asserted.
With Indonesia’s victory at the WTO, Airlangga also expressed hope that the long-standing economic cooperation negotiations between Indonesia and the European Union, known as the Indonesia-European Union Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IEU-CEPA), which started in 2016, can be concluded soon.
"We also had disputes with them regarding issues like downstream industries, where they made it difficult for us to export our leading products. With this victory, I hope the obstacles hindering the IEU-CEPA negotiations can be cleared, and we can finish IEU-CEPA soon," he added.