Australia warned of further repercussions

Australia warned of further repercussions

SINGAPORE (AFP): Indonesia's Trade and Industry Minister
Rahardi Ramelan has accused Australia of mixing politics with
trade and warned that Jakarta might expand a campaign to cut its
commodity imports from Australia.

He charged on the sidelines of Southeast Asian trade
ministers' talks which opened here Thursday that Australian
unions which staged a boycott of Indonesian cargo over the East
Timor crisis sparked off the trade problem.

"They are boycotting and hindering trade and the Indonesian
business and industry have to make a decision because they want
to have continuity (in supplies)," Rahardi told reporters on the
eve of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) talks.

He said that Indonesian business groups had come to him
concerned about the disruption of imports from Australia
following the boycott and he had told them: "Please safeguard
your sources. Don't depend on one country."

Rahardi said so far Indonesian associations representing wheat
and cotton importers had approached the government to seek
alternative sources of supply. He indicated that sugar importers
would follow suit.

"Until today, wheat and cotton. For sugar, I am sure they will
come to us also," he said.

Australian Trade Minister Mark Vaile on Wednesday played down
concerns that Australian imports to Indonesia could be cut back
over the government's stance on East Timor, where Australian
troops are leading a UN force assigned to restore order.

Vaile said Jakarta had been concerned its exports could be
disrupted because of union blockades in Australia, but they were
lifted when Indonesia agreed to allow UN peacekeepers into East
Timor.

Rahardi said Indonesia would not face problems if Australia
held back its exports and repeatedly stressed that "it is a
buyers' market."

He said that for wheat particularly, there were abundant
supplies including from China and India. "As long as it is a
buyers' market, it's no problem.

Asked how he could help restore trade ties, Rahardi said: "It
is really the decision of the Indonesian people, including the
business (sector), and how they judge, how they value the
relations with Australia.

"In Australia, the problem is the society. (There is)
sensitivity (on the trade front) because of politics. Politics
and trade should not be mixed."

The minister said 60 percent of Indonesia's wheat imports and
40 percent of cotton imports came from Australia.

Two-way trade between Australia and Indonesia is worth about
A$5.5 billion (US$3.52 billion) annually but the Indonesians
enjoy a A$1.4 billion trade surplus, largely due to Australian
imports of crude oil and petroleum products.

The surplus was the first recorded by Indonesia since early
1990s.

Indonesian officials said Australia's Vaile had sought a
meeting with Rahardi on the sidelines of the ASEAN meeting here
but it could not be arranged because Rahardi had to return home
for a meeting of Indonesia's highest legislative body, the
People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).

The MPR kicks off a general convention Friday that will lead
to the selection of the country's new president in November.

Vaile was scheduled to attend a meeting Friday of trade
ministers from ASEAN with their counterparts from Australia and
New Zealand as part of an annual exercise.