RI hailed over trade policies

JAKARTA (JP): The World Trade Organization (WTO) has praised Indonesia's efforts to foster free trade principles.

Director General for International Industrial and Trade Agency Cooperation of the Ministry of Trade and Industry Hatanto Reksodiputro said on Thursday the WTO hailed Indonesia for resisting temptation to back off from its free trade commitment despite the profound economic crisis.

Hatanto said the WTO, which periodically evaluates international trade policies of both developing and developed nations, considered Indonesia's recent moves to eliminate trade barriers as encouraging.

He said the government had recently taken several measures to remove tariff and non-tariff barriers in order to comply with the WTO's free trade pact.

"The affirmative appraisal is a sign of Indonesia's commitment toward promoting free and open international trade conditions," Hatanto told Antara, after addressing a seminar on "Impacts of the WTO sponsored sanitary and phytosanitary agreement on Indonesian agricultural export and import products".

He told the seminar audience that domestic exporters needed to take the sanitary and phytosanitary agreement seriously.

"Because of our ignorance, a lot of our agricultural products are rejected at export destination countries."

He said at least 21 product groups, such as the beans and processed coconut product groups, were often rejected by Australian markets for not meeting international standards.

At least 10 farm and fishery product items were also rejected by the United States, he said. (02)