Indonesia turns down draft to revive WTO talks

Indonesia turns down draft to revive WTO talks

Zakki P. Hakim, Jakarta

The Indonesian government has rejected a recent World Trade
Organization (WTO) draft proposal aimed at reviving stalled
global trade talks.

The draft, which includes an end to farm export subsidies,
fails to meet the requests of developing countries, director of
multilateral cooperation at the Ministry of Industry and Trade
Djunari Inggih Waskito said on Thursday.

"We are saying no to the first draft," Djunari told the press
on Thursday.

While an end to farm export subsidies has been one of the
major demands of developing countries, the draft does not spell
out a clear timetable on when developed nations will end the farm
subsidies.

The export subsidies given by the governments of developed
countries to their farmers have made farm products from
developing countries difficult to compete with in the export
market.

The WTO draft, drawn up by the organization's chief Supachai
Panitchpakdi earlier this month, will be discussed at the
upcoming WTO general council meeting from July 27 to July 29 in
Geneva.

This is the latest effort to revive negotiations on lowering
global trade barriers, which have floundered since the dramatic
collapse of ministerial talks in Cancun, Mexico, last September.

The WTO talks are seen as a way to help boost global trade and
lift millions out of poverty.

But Djunari, who will participate in the Geneva meeting, said
that many developing nations would probably reject the first
draft.

Indonesia was the leader of the G-33 group of developing
nations during the Cancun talks, which failed due to the huge gap
between the developed and developing nations.

Djunari said that developing countries would also not accept
the proposal of nonagricultural market access (NAMA) mandating
that all countries to reduce their tariffs on industrial products
on mandatory basis, instead of on a voluntary basis.

The tariff reduction mechanism itself is also not acceptable
due to its linear nature, which would be a major disadvantage for
most developing countries that usually imposes high tariffs, he
said.

Seven commodities included in the NAMA negotiations are
electronics, fish and its products, footwear, leather goods,
automobiles and their components, precious stones and gems, and
textiles.

Meanwhile, executive director of the Institute for Global
Justice (IGJ) Bonnie Setiawan said that the draft was the worst
ever issued by the WTO.

"WTO is too ambitious, as it proposes too many issues to be
solved. It should finish the agricultural issue first, then move
to other issues," he said.

Bonnie said that the European Union and United States had a
specific political interest in the July meeting, as both giants
faced an election later this year.

"Both governments are seeking domestic support through their
role in the coming negotiations," he said, and went on that it
was in their interests that next week's meeting does not fail and
that there is agreement on some issues.

"A second draft would be generated by end of this week, but I
doubt whether it would have significant changes," he said.

The results of the meeting next week are considered crucial to
the future of the Doha round of negotiations, which started in
November 2001 to reduce global trade barriers.