Local NGOs call for national policy on trade liberalization

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.