RI to host G-33 meeting in mid April

RI to host G-33 meeting in mid April

Zakki P. Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The G-33 alliance of developing countries -- fighting to protect
sensitive farm products from trade liberalization under the World
Trade Organization -- is to hold a ministerial meeting here ahead
of the next WTO conference in Hong Kong.

The ministerial meeting is expected to take place in
conjunction with the Asia Africa Conference jubilee in mid April
in Bandung.

"Indonesia is to host the G-33 ministerial meeting but the
date still awaits the final schedule of the Asia Africa
Conference," said Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Director for
Multilateral Trade and Industry Mohammad Oemar on Tuesday.

He added that the government had considered delaying the
conference jubilee following the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami
that struck northern Sumatra.

At the meeting, Oemar said, G-33 ministers were expected to
come up with concrete proposals for "Special Products and Special
Safeguard Mechanisms" (SP-SSM), a concept used by developing
countries to protect sensitive farm products from the excesses of
trade liberalization.

The G-33, currently led by Indonesia, would use these
proposals in negotiations during the sixth WTO ministerial
meeting to be held in December in Hong Kong, he said.

Separately, the Ministry of Agriculture's multilateral
cooperation section head Mukti Setiarto said the group would meet
in Geneva next week, and each country member would propose its
criterion for defining sensitive farm products.

"The definition of sensitive farm products is different from
one country to another, depending on the respective country's
national interests," he said.

Sensitive farm products are often staple foods that are
produced by small farmers who dominate the populations of
developing countries.

Aggressive trade liberalization in farm products had the
potential to ruin a country's "uncompetitive" agriculture sector,
threatening the livelihoods of already poor farmers and their
families.

In Indonesia, certain sectional interests have suggested that
the government place rice, sugar, soybean and corn onto the
sensitive lists, but Mukti said the government had yet to
determine this matter.

At last year's WTO general council meeting in Geneva, the G-33
succeeded in pushing the SP-SSM into the so-called "July Package"
agreement framework. "July Package" turned important as it
revived stalled talks on global free trade agreement since the
collapse of the fifth WTO ministerial meeting in Cancun, Mexico,
in 2003.

However, details on the allowed categories and number of
products would have to be negotiated at future talks, thus giving
the G-33 little time before the next round of negotiations in
December.

Some global experts have commended the G-33's achievement in
pushing the SP-SSM concept, and have further suggested that the
group should pressure industrialized nations into specifying a
final date for the elimination of trade distorting export
subsidies.

The G-33 now comprises 42 developing countries within the WTO,
including China, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Honduras,
India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kenya, Korea, Mauritius, Nicaragua,
Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, the Philippines, Peru, Senegal, Sri
Lanka, Suriname, Turkey, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.