The Indonesian government is seeking a bilateral agreement with the United States to boost its volume of textile exports. As currently, the US imposes a 12.5 percent import duty for their textiles, while it imposes zero percent for Vietnamese textiles because they already have a bilateral agreement, said Industry Minister Airlangga Hartarto in Jakarta on Thursday.

Recently, a commercial dialogue--a forum has also been established that encourages the private sector to explore investment and trade opportunities in both countries.

The ministry’s industrial resilience and international access director general, Harjanto, said that Indonesia had discussed various issues with the US through the Trade Investment Council (TIC) forum.

The TIC consisted of four working groups on industrial and agricultural products, illegal logging and associated trade, intellectual property rights, and investment.

Currently, the dialogue focuses on several issues, including investment climate, trade expansion, small and medium enterprises, entrepreneurship, clean energy and industrial cooperation.