Indonesia 'must protect' its local service sector

Indonesia 'must protect' its local service sector

JAKARTA (JP): Although Indonesia has to join the global
efforts to liberalize the service sector, the country should do
its utmost to ensure the growth of its local service industry, a
senior official of Bank Indonesia said on Friday.

"The liberalization of the service sector is unavoidable, but
what, how and when the liberalization is to be implemented must
be determined by the Indonesian government and people," the
central bank's Deputy Governor Achjar Iljas said during a
workshop on The General Agreement on Trade and Services (GATS).

The workshop was held from Wednesday through Friday by the
World Trade Organization (WTO) in cooperation with the central
bank, the Indonesian mission to the WTO and the ministry of
industry and trade, according to a statement from the bank.

"When liberalizing, Indonesia should not only take care of its
international rights and obligations, but also its domestic and
economic needs," Achjar added.

Meanwhile, Adolf Warouw, head of the Coordinating Committee
for National Service, insisted during the workshop that the
liberalization of the service sector not endanger the local
service industry.

The WTO members launched negotiations on service and
agriculture last year, following the failure of the WTO meeting
in Seattle in December 1999 which was supposed to launch wide-
ranging trade liberalization talks.

The WTO members will meet again in Doha, Qatar, late this
year.

Developing countries, which are mostly still protecting their
service sector from foreign investors, fear the future WTO
agreement on the liberalization of the service sector will lead
to the domination of foreign firms in their service industries.

The workshop was aimed at providing information on the current
negotiations on the GATS and to formulate Indonesia's "Schedule
of Commitment" which had to be submitted to the WTO in the near
future, the statement said.

Participants of the workshop included legislators, officials
from the central bank, several governmental institutions and
academies, it added. (jsk)