Rini roundly criticizes rich countries

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.