Rini roundly criticizes rich countries

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Commenting on the collapse of the World Trade Organization (WTO) talk in Cancun last week, Minister of Industry and Trade Rini M.S. Soewandi expressed her disappointment towards developed countries, saying Indonesia would focus more on developing countries as alternative markets.

"The developed countries' attitude shown during the WTO forum (in Cancun) has given us a very clear sign that poverty in the developing countries will persist because the developed countries continue to implement tariff and non-tariff barriers on agricultural products of the developing countries," she said in a press release made available on Tuesday.

She added that developed countries were completely ignorant and could not create a fair global trade system that could help developing countries alleviate poverty.

Rini, who departed to Sharjah, United Arab Emirates after the Cancun summit, added that the attitude had prompted Indonesia and other poor countries to find alternative markets.

"We will continue our trade relations with developed countries. But at the same time we need to widen our market to reduce dependency on developed countries," she said.

She cited Sharjah as an example of an alternative market.

She visited Sharjah to officially open Indonesia's product expo, in a bid to introduce Indonesian products to the Middle East region.

After visiting Sharjah, she is scheduled to visit Libya to discuss to follow-up on a previous counter trade deal signed by Indonesia and Libya last month.