RI lacks integrated policy at WTO talks: Economist
RI lacks integrated policy at WTO talks: Economist
Sari P. Setiogi, The Jakarta Post,Jakarta
The government is being criticized for not having an
integrated policy on global trade issues, making the country's
negotiation team at World Trade Organization (WTO) talks less
effective in promoting domestic interests.
"We could see clearly that the Ministry of Finance is more
into (trade) liberalization, while the Ministry of Trade and
Industry and the Ministry of Agriculture tends to be more
protectionist," University of Indonesia economist M. Chatib Basri
said on Thursday at a discussion on WTO issues here.
Bayu Krisnamurthi from the Bogor Institute of Agriculture
concurred, saying that the absence of a clear policy on global
trade weakens the country's bargaining power at the international
trade forum.
He said that being a country with rich natural resources
Indonesia should be a leading player in multilateral trade talks
particularly where it concerns the agriculture sector.
Bayu criticized the government negotiation team for merely
following up demands from developed nations.
The agriculture sector was considered the most sensitive issue
at the WTO forum in Mexico in September last year. The trade
talks collapsed mainly due to disagreement between developed and
developing nations on agricultural issues.
There have been efforts to revive the WTO talks, with possible
talks to take place in Hong Kong next year.
Meanwhile, Indonesian Ambassador to the WTO, Gusmardi Bustami
said that Indonesia and other developing countries would continue
to push developed nations to reduce their agricultural subsidies
to help improve the competitiveness of products from developing
countries in the international market.
He added that the developed nations should also open their
markets to agricultural products from developing countries.
He said that the OECD nations had been providing huge
subsidies for their farmers valued at around US$332 billion per
year, or equal to around $1 billion per day.
"In contrast, farmers in developing nations live on less than
$1 per day," Bustami said.