Jakarta urges WTO to heed the needs of poor countries
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia called on the World Trade Organization (WTO) yesterday to heed not only the pleas of developed countries but also the problems faced by developing nations in meeting free trade commitments.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas said that most developing countries in the Asia Pacific region, in their efforts to meet their obligations to WTO agreements, are still experiencing problems in adjusting their national laws to make them WTO-consistent.
"The WTO should therefore pay more attention to the problems that developing countries are facing in fulfilling their commitments," Alatas said.
Alatas was addressing the opening of a three-day Asia-Pacific senior officials meeting designed to prepare the way for the WTO ministerial meeting in Singapore in December.
He noted that since the credibility of the WTO lay in the full implementation of the Uruguay Round agreements, it should take into consideration the provisions on special and differential treatment for developing countries.
"Ironically, it is to the new issues such as investment, competition policy, and trade and the environment that major attention has been paid as a result of pressures from certain major trading partners," he continued.
He warned that any effort to link new issues, including labor standards, with the multilateral trade regulations would hurt the WTO's goals.
Such a move risked politicizing the WTO, negating efforts to promote free trade and impeding the economic growth of all members, particularly of developing countries, Alatas said.
Any discussion on trade and labor standards should be avoided at the Singapore ministerial meeting, he continued, adding that it would only "distract" the meeting's focus from fulfilling its main objectives.
"The agenda of the Singapore ministerial conference should by no means be allowed to be overloaded. Extension issues will only distract the conference from fulfilling its main mandate" he said.
The Singapore conference, the first ministerial meeting of the WTO, is aimed at reviewing the progress of the implementation of the Uruguay Round multilateral trade agreement and addressing the problems encountered by member states.
The agenda, Alatas said, should be carefully considered before adoption, because it would then be used as a definitive model for the organization's future ministerial conferences.
Meanwhile, WTO Deputy Director General Anwarul Hoda noted that the WTO will provide a forum for further negotiations among its members concerning their multilateral trade relations.
"But negotiations can commence only if there is a decision to take up a particular aspect and, for that, a consensus has to be built," Hoda said.
He said that not all issues, including labor standards, being proposed for inclusion on the agenda of the Singapore meeting are new. Investment and competition policy are already part of the built-in agenda, albeit in a rather narrow and limited way, in the context of the agreement on Trade-Related Investment Measures.
The preparatory meeting here is to discuss the review of the multilateral trade agreement under the Uruguay Round, agendas for further liberalization in the sectors of services, textiles and clothing and agriculture and new issues, including trade and social clauses and the environment.
On the environment, Alatas said the issue was important to both developed and developing countries.
"Therefore, WTO member countries should not impose inappropriate environmental standards on their fellow members and should not use trade measures for the protection of the environment," Alatas said.
The meeting involves senior officials of 27 member countries of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), United Nations' bodies, intergovernmental organizations and specialized international agencies.
It is jointly organized by ESCAP, the United Nations Commission on Trade and Development, and the United Nations Development Program. (rid)