NAM members lack trade commitment<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) countries have
\ninsufficient political will to promote economic relations with
\nfellow members, says an analyst.<\/p>\n
Hadi Soesastro, the executive director of the Centre for
\nStrategic and International Studies, said Thursday the reason
\nthere was little business between NAM members was that most of
\nthem preferred trading with developed countries.<\/p>\n
\"Without firm political will from all members, no economic or
\npolitical arrangements could work,\" he told a seminar on the Non-
\nAligned Movement at University of Indonesia, Depok, West Java.<\/p>\n
He said NAM members, most developing countries, were
\neconomically and politically dependent on developed nations
\nbecause few of them had performed well economically.<\/p>\n
He was concerned that many members still requested help from
\ndeveloped nations to settle their economic woes.<\/p>\n
He acknowledged that developing countries could not isolate
\nthemselves from the global economy and political systems
\ndominated by western countries.<\/p>\n
\"Members of the Movement should, however, build collective
\neconomic self-reliance to gradually reduce their dependency on
\nthe global market,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Members must build regional or sub-regional market networks as
\nalternatives for their commodities, Hadi said.<\/p>\n
Developing countries will not make any substantial progress
\nunless they eliminate their dependency on the international
\nmarket, he said.<\/p>\n
\"Indonesia almost always says no to new or sensitive economic
\nissues being discussed at international forums arguing that the
\ncountry is not ready to deal with the matters,\" he said, citing
\nthis an example of how the country reduces its reliance on
\ndeveloped countries.<\/p>\n
The poor condition of trade \"infrastructure\" in member
\ncountries still hampers the promotion of intra-trade activities.
\nConsequently most developing countries rely on foreign finance or
\nshipping companies to help them trade internationally, he said.<\/p>\n
\"For example, most of Indonesia's high quality garment exports
\nare arranged by Japan's Sogo Sosha,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"Indonesian companies lack financial institutions to support
\ntheir international trade activities,\" he said, adding that
\nIndonesia still relied on French banks when trading with
\nVietnam. (04)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/nam-members-lack-trade-commitment-1447893297",
"image": ""
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