Jakarta, 18 February 2020: Around 20 students from Japan and the Republic of Korea learned about non-tariff measures (NTMs), digital economy, and trade negotiations from the experts in the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) when they visited ERIA as part of their short course programme organised by Universitas Indonesia, one of the country’s top universities.

ERIA’s Director of Communications, Ms Lydia Ruddy, welcomed the students and presented a brief overview of ERIA’s activities. Afterwards, Senior Economist, Dr Lili Yan Ing, introduced the concepts of international trade, NTMs, and free trade agreements (FTAs). One of the students asked Dr Ing’s opinion on FTAs and whether FTAs actually hurt developing countries. Dr Ing explained the benefits of opening the market and getting involved in FTAs, while also asking other students’ opinion on the topic.

‘That’s the beauty of social science. You can have your opinion on a certain subject as long as you can explain the logic behind your opinion,’ said Dr Ing.

Dr Lurong Chen, ERIA Economist whose recent research projects evolved around digital economy, explained the current issues in the field, including the industry 4.0. Policy Fellow Mr Salvador Buban told the students the story of how he got into the field of trade negotiations and his experience with various FTA negotiations. 

During lunch, the students mingled with Mr Buban and ERIA’s research associates, discussing their studies and research interests.

The programme, known as UI-CREATES (Universitas Indonesia Credit Earning Programme), is a short course programme for students from outside of Indonesia in which students can earn credit after the completion. They work together with various universities across ASEAN and East Asia, and the students will take a course entitled ‘ASEAN Plus Three’ in Universitas Indonesia.