Anticipating free trade

Anticipating free trade

The coming free trade era will provide opportunities but also
impose limitations. It will also raise the prospect of
uncertainty. For those reasons it is not surprising that all
countries are trying to have as strong a say as possible in
determining the course of the changes that are to take place.

We may note that during the Uruguay Round meetings, new topics
were also raised and old ones revived to ensure that the
interests of the countries concerned were protected. As a
consequence, the Uruguay Round meetings became protracted.

Indonesia is very much of the opinion that the upcoming World
Trade Organization (WTO) meeting should concentrate on subjects
that fall within the bounds of the organization's jurisdiction.
Any broadening of the scope of the subjects to be discussed would
lead to a repeat of the Uruguay Round experience. The
negotiations would become protracted, boring and exhausting.

President Soeharto's reminder during the opening of the 28th
ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting in Jakarta last Thursday was
intended to prevent the upcoming WTO sessions from becoming as
drawn out as those of the Uruguay Round.

The free trade era offers bright prospects for countries that
are ready for it. Efforts to turn those prospects into reality
can be made either by each country on its own or by influencing
the negotiations at the WTO, which has the task of administering
and supervising the existing trade agreements and settle trade
disputes among its members. We must be prepared.

-- Bisnis Indonesia, Jakarta