Rini targets farmers well-being, job creation<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Industry and Trade Rini M.S.
\nSoewandi said on Wednesday that her top policy priority over the
\nnext couple of years would be to improve the well-being of
\nfarmers, and job creation.<\/p>\n
\"We will always take into account two things: the well-being
\nof farmers and the creation of job opportunities,\" Rini said in
\nher first formal media conference since being appointed to the
\nCabinet earlier this month.<\/p>\n
The former top corporate executive, however, could not yet
\nprovide details about her policy, reasoning that \"such policies
\nwill have to be coordinated with other ministries.\"<\/p>\n
Fostering the agriculture sector fits in well with the mission
\nto create jobs.<\/p>\n
Indonesia's labor force was estimated at 95.7 million people
\nin 2000, of which 5.8 million were jobless. At least 45.3
\npercent of employed people worked in the agriculture sector.<\/p>\n
But protecting the agriculture sector via tariff or non-tariff
\nbarriers, for instance, could move against the rules of the World
\nTrade Organization (WTO), of which Indonesia is a member, and
\nwhich stipulate the liberalization of the agriculture sector.<\/p>\n
Certain government officials had previously expressed support
\nto growing farmer demands to impose non-tariff barriers against
\nimports of rice in order to protect local rice output from
\ncheaper imports.<\/p>\n
Recently, the Association of Indonesian Cocoa Exporters
\n(Askindo) also asked Rini to introduce a quota scheme to limit
\nthe market share of foreign exporters.<\/p>\n
Indonesia's cocoa bean exports this year are projected to
\nreach 275,000 tons, but some 85 percent of them are controlled by
\nforeign companies, which started to dominate the export business
\nfollowing the country's 1997 economic crisis.<\/p>\n
Rini also said that to create more job opportunities, the
\ncorporate restructuring program would have to be accelerated in
\norder to allow the companies to seek bank financing to expand
\ntheir operations and employ more people.<\/p>\n
She said that she would prioritize the push for the
\nrestructuring of heavily indebted huge companies such as
\npetrochemical firm PT Chandra Asri Petrochemical Center and car
\nmaker PT Timor Putra Nasional.<\/p>\n
Rini also said that her office would produce a list of
\nproducts and commodities that could help boost the country's
\nexports.<\/p>\n
\"We are now analyzing products and commodities that are very
\ncompetitive as exports,\" she said.<\/p>\n
\"At the same time we are also analyzing the import content of
\nour export products,\" she said, adding that she wanted to see
\nwhat imported raw materials could be substituted by local
\nproducts, including those produced by the country's small and
\nmedium-sized enterprises (SMEs), to create more jobs.<\/p>\n
The country's exports are expected to be negatively affected
\nby the global economic slowdown.<\/p>\n
In the first half of this year, exports declined 0.18 percent
\nto US$ 29.30 billion, from the same period in 2000.<\/p>\n
But Rini dismissed fears that the recent sharp appreciation in
\nthe rupiah against the U.S. dollar would badly hit the country's
\nexport industry.<\/p>\n
\"We believe that the impact of the strengthening of the rupiah
\non the country's exports is temporary,\" she said, adding that
\nexporters had to make some adjustments to take into account
\ndevelopments in the exchange rate.<\/p>\n
The rupiah has appreciated steadily since the appointment of
\nPresident Megawati Soekarnoputri on July 23. The rupiah closed at
\nRp 8,600 on Wednesday, compared with Rp 11,300 per U.S. dollar in
\nearly July.<\/p>\n
\"This is a short-term phenomenon. In the long run, this (the
\nstrengthening of the rupiah) is good for the country's economy
\noverall,\" she said.(03)<\/p>",
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