Indonesia supports EC proposal to hold new WTO round this year
Indonesia supports EC proposal to hold new WTO round this year
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia has thrown its support behind the
European Commission's proposal to relaunch a new round of talks
for global trade liberalization in the World Trade Organization
framework this year, Minister of Industry and Trade Luhut
Pandjaitan said on Monday.
However, the new round of trade talks must have a specific
agenda that will benefit the country, he said at a seminar on the
industry sector held by the Forum of Trade and Industry
Journalists.
"Yes, we support the EC's proposal to relaunch talks this
year, but under the condition that it will have a clear-cut
agenda," he said.
Luhut said Indonesia's stance was revealed during a meeting
between President Abdurrahman Wahid and European Trade
Commissioner Pascal Lamy last week.
Lamy visited Indonesia as part of a series of official trips
to key developing countries to lobby for a new attempt to launch
a round of trade talks after the failure of the Seattle WTO
conference last December.
Separately, Director General of International Industry and
Trade Organization Cooperation Hatanto Reksodiputro said
Indonesia demanded the new trade talks to benefit not only the
industrialized countries but also developing countries, which
make up two-thirds of the 135 member countries in the WTO.
"It must ensure the balance in serving the interests of both
industrialized and developing countries," he said.
Hatanto said Indonesia wanted the agenda for new WTO talks to
include specific topics like antidumping and investment.
The issue of antidumping is very critical as it has apparently
been widely manipulated by industrialized countries, he said.
Hatanto said Indonesia had also made it clear that it did not
want the labor standardization issue to be raised at the new
round of trade talks.
"It's impossible. Industrialized countries can't just ask
developing countries to use their standards in labor affairs,
we're different," he said.
Heads of the Group of Eight leading nations at the last summit
on July 23 said they wanted to relaunch a new round of talks
within five months, but did not go into specifics on how this
might be done, let alone drop hints on whether they were ready to
soften rigid negotiating positions.
The WTO's earlier conference in Seattle broke down amid
disagreement and recrimination between industrialized and
developing countries over issues of agriculture and labor
standards, the environment and investment.
Asian countries at the Seattle conference had pressed for,
among other things, a WTO review of antidumping measures used
mostly by developed nations to keep out competing low-cost
imports.
Developing countries had also called for more time to meet the
commitments they had made, such as protection for intellectual
property rights and for industrialized nations to speed up their
commitments on areas such as textiles, which would boost their
exports.
At a WTO meeting in Geneva last month, key developing
countries, including Indonesia, made it clear they would not
agree to a full new global round of trade talks until their
concerns about earlier agreements were resolved. (cst)