Manufacturing sector faces no problem with free trade<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Industry Tunky Ariwibowo stated
\nyesterday that Indonesia's manufacturing industry will face no
\nproblems with the APEC trade liberalization.<\/p>\n
\"We still have much time and our manufacturing industry is
\nexperienced enough,\" the minister said of the decision of the
\nAsia and Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Bogor
\nyesterday afternoon to liberalize trade among members.<\/p>\n
Speaking to newsmen after addressing the APEC Business Forum,
\nthe minister said the government has given strong emphasis to the
\ndevelopment of intermediary industries in a bid to further
\nsupport the manufacturing sector.<\/p>\n
\"We hope the manufacturing sector will be efficient enough
\nwhen the free trade arrangement is fully implemented,\" he said.<\/p>\n
APEC leaders decided at a one-day forum yesterday to
\nliberalize trade in the Asian and Pacific area by no later than
\n2010 for advanced member economies and by 2020 for developing
\nmembers.<\/p>\n
Tunky acknowledged that the government's bureaucracy and
\noutdated regulations still hamper a cost efficiency program but
\nhe promised such shortcomings would be further minimized.<\/p>\n
The minister said the different levels of members' economies
\nwill strongly influence the 18-member organization to cooperate
\nin resources, technology and labor factors.<\/p>\n
Tunky said that APEC's developed and newly industrialized
\nmembers could benefit from the cheap labor and resources of the
\ndeveloping members, which will, in turn, receive capital and more
\nadvanced technology from their developed partners.<\/p>\n
Trade barrier<\/p>\n
In his speech at the business forum, held concurrently with
\nthe APEC meeting, Tunky said many developed countries impose a
\nwide range of non-tariff barriers, such as stringent technical
\nstandards and the adoption of quota systems to prevent the entry
\nof goods from developing nations onto their markets.<\/p>\n
He said that such non-tariff barriers should be removed. Such
\npractices would hurt both sides because the drop in developing
\ncountries' exports would also reduce their capability to import
\nfrom industrialized countries.<\/p>\n
\"Export per se is not the objective of the developing
\nnations,\" he said, adding that most developing countries use
\ntheir export earnings to buy products and services from developed
\nnations in order to sustain their economic growth and to improve
\ntheir living standards.<\/p>\n
Developing countries' exports will, therefore, neither
\ndisplace the domestic production of developed nations nor cause
\nfurther unemployment as many economists fear, he argued.<\/p>\n
\"A recent study by Professor Robert Lawrence of Harvard shows
\nthat the bulk of developed nations' trade is with countries whose
\npopulace earn similar wages,\" Tunky said to back up his argument.<\/p>\n
The minister said that the reason for the unemployment rate in
\ndeveloped nations increasing could lie elsewhere, \"perhaps in the
\ntechnological changes or skill shifts as these nations make the
\ntransition from an industrial era to an information era.\"
\n(rid\/hen)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/manufacturing-sector-faces-no-problem-with-free-trade-1447893297",
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