RI to defend agriculture tariff policy at WTO<\/p>\n
A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The government would defend its current import tariff policy on
\nagriculture products at the upcoming World Trade Organization
\n(WTO) meeting in Geneva, Indonesian Ambassador for WTO Gusmardi
\nBustami said.<\/p>\n
He told The Jakarta Post on Thursday that the tariff barrier
\nwas crucial for Indonesia as a developing nation in which a large
\npart of the population earned their living from cultivating food
\ncrops.<\/p>\n
"With limited government resources, tariffs are our only means
\nof support to our farmers," Gusmardi said.<\/p>\n
He added that the above position was not against the world's
\ndrive for trade liberalization because the current average import
\ntariff of 8.4 percent was already considered too low.<\/p>\n
The WTO talks on liberalization of the agriculture sector will
\nbe held from March 24 to March 31. It will be the final round,
\nmeaning that any outcomes will be binding for member countries of
\nWTO.<\/p>\n
The final round is a follow-up of the milestone agricultural
\nWTO meeting in Doha, Qatar, called the "Doha Round" in November
\n2001.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, a senior official at the ministry of agriculture
\nsaid in a trade liberalization seminar on Thursday that
\ndeveloping countries like Indonesia must be excluded from the
\nliberalization drive.<\/p>\n
The ministry's negotiator at WTO P. Natigor Siagian said a
\nfull liberalization of the country's agriculture sector would
\ncause huge losses to the domestic farming sector.<\/p>\n
"The government will fight in order to ensure that Indonesia
\ncan be excluded from trade liberalization," he said.<\/p>\n
Another government official at the ministry, who was also
\npresent at the seminar, added that the Indonesian demands will be
\nfocused on several "strategic" agriculture products like rice,
\nsugar, and soybeans.<\/p>\n
A non-governmental organization (NGO) called the Institute for
\nthe Global Justice supported the government's position.<\/p>\n
The NGO executive director Bonnie Setiawan said that opening
\nup the agriculture sector would cause the domestic market to
\nbecome flooded with low priced imported agriculture products,
\nthus hurting the owners of agribusiness corporations as well as
\nmost of the farm laborers that work the land.<\/p>\n
He said that while Indonesia was previously one of the world's
\nrice exporters, the country has now already become one of the
\nbiggest rice importers in the world, purchasing around 10 percent
\nof the rice being traded in the international market last year.<\/p>\n
However, an association representing agribusiness has said
\nthat to keep their prices higher than the imported agriculture
\nproducts, the government must further raise the existing import
\ntariff rate so all the produce will be more expensive allowing
\nthem to maintain their current income.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ri-to-defend-agriculture-tariff-policy-at-wto-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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