Jakarta urges WTO to heed the needs of poor countries
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)