NGOs warns against 'Singapore issues' at WTO meeting

Evi Mariani The Jakarta Post Jakarta

Indonesian non-governmental organizations warned that developed countries were likely to bring again the controversial "Singapore issues" to the negotiation table during the incoming World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial summit in Cancun, Mexico.

The NGOs thus called on the Indonesian delegation as well as those from other developing countries to resist any move to raise the issues, which they claimed would hurt the interests of poor and developing countries.

The issues pertain to investment, competition policy, government procurement and trade facilitation.

The issues first emerged during the first WTO ministerial summit in Singapore in 1996.

"Those issues were brought up by the European Union and the United States during the third ministerial summit in Seattle in 1999. [However] the issues were not brought into the talks due to resistance mostly from developing countries," the NGOs said.

For example, the NGOs said, once a country implements transparency in its government procurement, it had to allow large foreign corporations to participate in procurement bids. Once the big companies are given the freedom to participate in the bids, the chance for local companies of developing countries to win the bids will be smaller, the NGO said in its position paper during a two-day meeting here last week.

About 75 NGOs from across the country signed the paper, including the Institute for Global Justice (IGJ), the Federation of Indonesia's Farmers Unions (FSPI), the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI), the National Front for Indonesian Workers' Struggle (FNPBI), the Indonesian Women's Coalition (KPI), and Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi).

The NGOs made the paper in anticipation of the WTO ministerial summit scheduled from Sept. 10 to Sept. 14 in Cancun.

In the paper, the NGOs supported the Indonesian government's opposition of the Singapore issues.

According to the paper, WTO has mostly benefited developed countries, while Indonesia, as a developing country, has mostly bowed to such countries' interests by enacting several laws to boost liberalization at the expense of the poor.

The NGOs demanded that the government revise the law on intellectual property rights, saying the law will undermine the government's position at WTO talks when negotiating against the patent on living things.

"The patent on microorganisms will render farmers in developing countries dependent on seed manufacturers," said the paper.

The NGOs also urged the government to fight for people's access to affordable lifesaving drugs.

Giant pharmaceutical companies in developed countries have insisted that the international community respect patents on their medicines. However, patented drugs have proven to be expensive, whereas fatal conditions like AIDS are rampant in poor countries.

The NGOs also called on WTO members to exclude agriculture and food from their talks on import tariff reduction, saying both are not merely trade commodities but also linked to the lives of farmers.

"We urge the government to stick to its stance in proposing the exclusion of staple foods from talks on import tariff reduction," the paper states.

They said a reduction in import tariffs of staple food would have a negative impact on the lives of Indonesia's marginalized farmers.

Indonesian NGOs' stance on WTO issues

1. Give all people access to affordable lifesaving drugs. 2. The government should revise the law on intellectual property rights. 3. The government should maintain its stance on the exclusion of staple foods from import tariff reduction. 4. Agriculture and food should be excluded from WTO talks. 5. Developing countries should continue to keep WTO from regulating investment policies. 6. The government should continue blocking negotiations on competition policies. The government should protect small enterprises at home against foreign competitors. 7. The government should keep resisting efforts to bring trade facilitation into the WTO agenda. Under a trade facilitation agreement, each country should simplify its trade procedures. 8. The government should resist efforts to bring the issue of transparency in government procurement into the WTO agenda. 9. WTO should stop holding closed meetings involving only a limited number of members.