Washington, July 22 -- The United States and the Republic of Indonesia have agreed to a framework for negotiating an Agreement on Reciprocal Trade to strengthen bilateral economic ties, the White House said in a joint statement on Tuesday.

The agreement aims to provide both countries' exporters unprecedented access to each other's markets and builds upon the U.S.-Indonesia Trade and Investment Framework Agreement signed on July 16, 1996.

According to the statement released by the White House, "Indonesia will eliminate approximately 99 percent of tariff barriers for a full range of U.S. industrial and U.S. food and agricultural products exported to Indonesia."

It further added, "The United States will reduce to 19 percent the reciprocal...