RI hailed over trade policies

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)