Progress on GATT

The U.S. Congress and Senate have now both ratified GATT (General Agreements on Tariff and Trade). This is most welcome news, not only for President Clinton but also for the world.

The American approval was followed by that of the Japanese Lower House of Parliament, which last Friday voted for GATT with 511 votes for and 15 against it. Actually, the Japanese government had been under heavy pressure for quite some time, especially from farmers.

The Japanese government has thus far been extending subsidies to farmers and raised protective barriers against the import of rice. For this reason the Japanese had initially tried hard in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings to exclude farm products from any free trade arrangements.

For Indonesia, which could be regarded as the sponsor of the Bogor Declaration (on free trade within the APEC sphere), the American approval is especially welcome. Without the Americans ratifying GATT, Japan too would be reluctant to do so and it would be hard to persuade China to join the agreement. If that happened, the programs and time schedules proposed for free trade by the Bogor Declaration would most likely have to be postponed.

With the U.S. and Japan - the world's economic giants - having ratified GATT, the efforts to put the agreement into effect and the formation of the World Trade Organization will be greatly facilitated. It is expected that under free trade Indonesia will be able to step up its non-oil exports.

-- Suara Karya, Jakarta