KEY POINTS:
An Indonesian official says New Zealand is offering too little in bilateral trade negotiations - sparking speculation the talks could end in a deadlock.
New Zealand was set to sign a free trade agreement (FTA) with the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) at the now-postponed East Asia Summit in Thailand this week.
It will now be signed next year. Indonesia is one of Asean's 10 members.
Alongside the FTA New Zealand is also negotiating an add-on deal with Indonesia covering environmental and labour side agreements and other auxiliary issues such as a working holiday visa scheme between the countries.
The negotiation is separate from the Asean FTA and failure to reach agreement would not block the FTA.
But Indonesian Trade Ministry director for Asean, Sondang Anggraini, hit out at New Zealand's negotiating stance in an interview in the Jakarta Post yesterday, saying it was "too much to tolerate".
She said the New Zealand-Australia-Asean FTA would eventually remove tariffs on 12 lines of New Zealand beef and dairy products by 2020, potentially jeopardising thousands of Indonesian jobs.
But Ms Sondang said New Zealand was only offering "peanut" concessions in the side deal.
They included 10 doctoral scholarships, financial assistance for three years to improve the skills of Indonesians working in the dairy and beef industries and visas for 100 Indonesian chefs, 100 semi-skilled nurses and oil and gas pipe welders, 20 language teaching assistants and 20 halal butchers.
"We dismiss their offers because scholarships are not among our priorities, and the amount of the financial assistance is so small that I'm ashamed to name the figure," she told the newspaper.
Beef and dairy products are currently subject to import duties of an average 5 per cent.
The newspaper said New Zealand was the second largest foreign meat exporter to Indonesia after Australia.
New Zealand's Trade Minister Tim Groser is overseas and was unavailable for comment, but it is understood Indonesia has not formally communicated the concerns.
Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully said he had received no briefing on the matter and was not aware of any concerns.
- NZPA
