Indonesia supports expansion in agenda for WTO talks

Indonesia supports expansion in agenda for WTO talks

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia will support a proposal for the
expansion of the agenda for the next round of World Trade
Organization talks, a senior official at the Ministry of Industry
and Trade said on Monday.

Director General of International Trade Hatanto Reksodiputro
said Indonesia might opt to have a widened scope of negotiations
for the upcoming trade talks in Seattle in the United States.

"It is difficult for Indonesia to have a good bargaining
position if the negotiations are only on agriculture and
services," Hatanto said.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference to
be held at the end of this month in Seattle will allow its 134
member nations to begin negotiations at least on agriculture and
services as part of the 1994 Uruguay Round.

There has been some debate whether the trade talks will only
accommodate negotiations on the mandated subjects of agriculture
and services.

Japan's trade minister, Takashi Pukaya, said last week that
his country would push to include a discussion of antidumping in
the Seattle meeting despite an objection from the United States.

Hatanto said Indonesia saw the possibility to agree that the
Seattle talks would also discuss other subjects beyond
agriculture and services as long as they were beneficial to
developing countries.

"There are a number of WTO agreements that need further
discussion in the Seattle talks in addition to agriculture and
services," he said at the WTO seminar sponsored by a number of
non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

Those other possible subjects Indonesia might propose include
WTO agreements on Trade Related Intellectual Property,
Antidumping and Subsidies and Countervailing Measures, Hatanto
said.

Hatanto acknowledged that Indonesia had a weak negotiation
position for agriculture and services, thus, other negotiation
subjects should serve to balance the weakness.

There were still WTO agreements that were poorly implemented
by developed countries, creating a disadvantage to developing
nations, Hatanto said.

"We should stress this implementation issue in the Seattle
talks," he said.

He said developing countries needed to identify every problem
which created the developed countries' poor implementation of
WTO agreements.

Earlier reports said some Asian countries were pressing for a
WTO review of antidumping measures used mostly by developed
nations to keep out competing low-cost imports.

The European Union (EU), often identified as the most eager
user of antidumping measures, is wary of opening such a
discussion.

However, the EU were reportedly debating a proposal to abolish
all tariffs and other restrictions on imports from the world's
poorest nations in a move to counter accusations of EU
protectionism.

Hira Jhamtani of Konphalindo, one of the NGOs sponsoring the
WTO discussion, said many textile and agricultural exports from
developing countries were restricted from entering developed
countries for unclear and unproven reasons, despite commitments
to free trade.

"There have been some debates. It seems that developed
countries can easily export to developing countries, but not vice
versa. Something is wrong here," she said.

She said those developed countries were still very protective
toward their agricultural products. Besides antidumping measures,
Hira added, they also protect their farmers through subsidies.

"They give subsidies to their farmers and claim that it is to
reimburse the cost farmers have to bear to protect the
environment," she said.

She said heavy subsidies provided unfair grounds for
competition for imported agricultural products, which were mostly
from developing countries.

Hatanto, who will be one of Indonesia's delegates to Seattle,
said developing countries should also anticipate the chance that
industrialized nations could once again try to put forward
rejected, sensitive subjects at the Seattle talks.

This includes the linking of trade with labor standards, he
said.

Other subjects rejected by the developing nations include the
Competition Policy, Transparency in Governmental Procurement and
Trade and Environment, Hatanto said.

Hira also said Indonesia did not have to be ashamed to request
special treatment on certain cases like many other developing
countries hit by the prolonged economic crisis.

She suggested the delegates going to Seattle hold a public
consultation, involving experts, businesspeople, NGOs and other
related parties.

Indonesian delegates will consist of government officials and
some members of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry
(Kadin). (udi)