RI fight for more agricultural access<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Despite broad skepticism over the World Trade Organization (WTO)
\nministerial summit in Hong Kong striking any significant deals,
\nIndonesia is still putting the expansion of access for its
\nagricultural products high on its agenda.<\/p>\n
Heading the Group of 33 (G-33) -- under which many
\nagriculture-based developing and third world countries are
\ngrouped -- Indonesia will focus on gaining the right to enter
\nnon-traditional markets for its products, a top negotiator says.<\/p>\n
\"We will maintain the United States, India and China as our
\ncurrent (export) markets, but we will also try to enter the
\npreviously neglected markets like Latin America, Eastern Europe
\nand the Middle East,\" Indonesia's WTO negotiator for agricultural
\nproducts Delima Azahari said on Monday.<\/p>\n
Aside from increasing market access, the Indonesian delegate
\nwill also push for significant cuts in domestic supports and
\nexport subsidies provided by developed countries for its farming
\nproducts -- which are worth hundreds of billions of dollars per
\nyear, although such a strategy would be hard to achieve, she
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Deadlocked debates over farming subsidies were the main reason
\nbehind the collapse of the last WTO development round talks in
\nCancun, Mexico in 2003.<\/p>\n
Still, the G-33 members will be striving to fight for this as
\na way of protecting their agricultural products -- deemed as
\nstrategic as it affects poverty alleviation and rural
\ndevelopment.<\/p>\n
The Hong Kong meeting to be held from Dec. 13 to Dec. 18, is
\naimed at, among other things, reaching agreements that would lead
\nto the slashing of rich nations' farm subsidies, which distort
\nworld markets, and to significantly lower barriers to imports in
\nboth developed and developing countries.<\/p>\n
Before the meeting starts, the Indonesian delegate is
\nscheduled to attend several meetings with the International
\nFarmers Community, Delima said.<\/p>\n
Minister of Trade Mari E. Pangestu said earlier this month
\nthat Indonesia would fight for the liberalization exemption of
\nfour special products: rice, corn, soybean and sugar.<\/p>\n
She told the Associated Press on the sidelines of an economic
\nmeeting in Malaysia on Monday that WTO members were unlikely to
\nbreak their stalemates over agricultural products. However, she
\nexpressed hope that the issue would not force global free trade
\ntalks to start again from zero.<\/p>\n
Any agreements on the products would have to come after Hong
\nKong when WTO members hold another summit before mid-2006,
\nprobably in Geneva, she said.<\/p>\n
The meeting is supposed to set up a conclusion to the current
\nDoha round of talks, which aims to cut trade barriers in a wide
\nrange of sectors and to address developing countries' needs.<\/p>\n
The Doha Development Agenda, launched in November 2001, aims
\nto lower barriers to trade in farm and industrial goods and
\nservices.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, aside from agricultural products, discussions on
\nindustrial goods -- known as NAMA (non-agricultural market
\naccess) -- and trade services will also take center stage in the
\nmeeting involving 149 countries.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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