Local NGOs call for national policy on trade liberalization

Tantri Yuliandini, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A local non-governmental organization, the World Trade Organization Watch called on the government to immediately design a well-developed national plan that would help local businesses to be able to compete with foreign players when trade liberalization under the World Trade Organization (WTO) scheme is realized.

A member of the WTO Watch, Hira Jhamtani, said on Friday that measures to strengthen small- and medium-sized enterprises were particularly needed to avoid them from being sidelined by foreign competitors.

"It's not about us rejecting the whole (trade liberalization deal) but about how we could schedule the liberalization (to benefit us) and to prepare the businesspeople. This has been neglected by the government so far," she asserted.

The WTO Watch is a coalition of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) concerned about the impact of the WTO's trade liberalization on Indonesia.

Among the members of the coalition are the International NGO Forum on Indonesian Development (INFID), the Institute for Global Justice, Jaringan Kearifan Tradisional Indonesia (Indonesian net for traditional philosophy), Bina Desa (village development), and Pesticide Action Network.

Hira, who is also a board member with the Institute for Global Justice, said that the government has been especially negligent in preparing farmers, especially rice farmers, for the global trade.

"The effect (of impending global trade) can already be felt on rice imports as it has made the price of rice fall," she said, explaining that once the trade liberalization doors are open Indonesia will be inundated with cheaper farm goods that will probably put domestic producers out of business.

She said that the government should especially push for a level playing field for farmers, because although developed countries are calling for free trade, their governments are giving subsidies so that farmers can afford to sell cheaply.

"For city people like us, it may be a good thing because we get cheaper food, but for our farmers it will be a disaster," she said.

Earlier, Minister of Industry and Trade Rini Soewandi said that Indonesia had always been concerned about creating a level playing field for all countries in embracing free trade.

"Indonesia has always stressed capacity-building. WTO is, in general, a good thing but it will only be fair if (all countries) have the same tools, otherwise we are sure to lose (against developed countries)," she explained.

Rini said that in the WTO ministerial meeting in Doha, Qatar early last month, the government succeeded in pushing for a consideration, with regard to food security, rural development and poverty, to be included in issues about agriculture.

"In general we can say that the Doha meeting has resulted in a rather balanced agenda," she said.

A WTO ministerial meeting in Seattle in early December 1999 ended in failure as member countries, especially between developed and developing countries, failed to agree on issues linked towards a three-year round of trade liberalization negotiations.

The Doha meeting agreed to put off the negotiations until the next meeting, scheduled for 2003, and until an explicit consensus is reached between all parties on issues such as investment, competition, environment, governmental procurement and trade facilitation.