NGOs calls on WTO to reschedule millenium round

JAKARTA (JP): At least 40 local non-governmental organizations joined their foreign counterparts in calling on Wednesday for a delay in the launch of the World Trade Organization's next round of trade talks.

Sukma Violetta, a representative of the NGOs, said the plan to open a new round of multilateral trade talks in Seattle in November was still premature because the impact of the last trade liberalization agreement on developing countries had not been assessed.

"We oppose the launch of the new round. The last Uruguay Round itself has raised problems in developing countries, such as the increase of poverty and environmental damage as consequences of the free trade acceleration," Sukma told a press briefing.

She said the next trade talks, scheduled to be held in November when the organization convenes its third ministerial meeting in Seattle, USA, aimed for new rules to reduce tariffs on industrial goods, including agricultural products and services, which were due for discussion at the next round.

Members of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) agreed at their summit in New Zealand last week to speed up economic liberalization during the WTO's next meeting.

Unlike the Uruguay Round, which dealt with liberalization in trade and services, the next round would discuss non-trade sectors such as multilateral arrangements on investment, government goods procurement, competition policies and electronic commerce.

Sukma said the U.S. recommended the WTO adopt a sectoral approach or an "early harvest" system in the so-called "Millennium Round", while the European Community wanted to retain the comprehensive method whereby the rules would come into effect as a single package at the conclusion of the round.

She added that the new round of talks was planned to be run simultaneously, over a shorter period, than the Uruguay Round, which has taken eight years to complete.

"Indonesia, like other developing countries, will need to go to a lot of trouble to absorb all the issues and talks, and even more to adopt them," she said.

"This country needs more time to get prepared and straighten up its economic and social problems before entering the free market."

The NGO grouping, calling themselves the Indonesian Anti- Millennium Round Committee, also asked the government to establish a national consultation board to formulate a national agenda to determine its position on proposals at the next ministerial meeting in Seattle in November.

"We ask the government, both the current and the next administration, to reject the proposal of developed countries to launch the Millennium Round before reviewing the implementation of the Uruguay Round in the country," said Sukma, a representative of the Indonesian Center for Environmental Law (ICEL).

She said the committee had established a special team to deliver their objections to the WTO's new trade round plan.

Nur Hidayat from the Agriculture Reformation Consortium (KPA) said that the NGOs, like their counterparts in developing countries, are working on lobbying the government and publicizing studies of the impact of free trade through seminars, workshops, discussions and public debates involving the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

The committee also includes, among others, the International Forum for Indonesian Development (INFID), the National Consortium for Indonesian Forest and Nature Preservation (Konphalindo), the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (WALHI), the Urban Poor Consortium (UPC), the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) and the Indonesian Pesticide Action Network (PAN). (01)