WTO to review RI's economic, trade policies

WTO to review RI's economic, trade policies

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Member countries of the World Trade Organization (WTO) are to
assess Indonesia's economic and trade policies over the past four
years on Friday in Geneva, to see whether or not the policies
have violated the WTO ruling, said a top official at the Ministry
of Industry and Trade.

The ministry's director general for international cooperation,
Pos M. Hutabarat, will lead the Indonesian delegation at the WTO
Trade Policy Review Mechanism (TPRM) meeting.

Pos will be accompanied by several officials, including those
from the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Agriculture, the
Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) and Bank Indonesia.

Pos said that the meeting would also examine the impact of
Indonesia's policies on multilateral trade.

During the two-day meeting, all the 145 WTO member countries
will provide an assessment of Indonesia's economic and trade
policies, based on a report prepared independently by the WTO
Secretariat.

Pos said the report followed a survey conducted in February by
the WTO Secretariat, which studied all economic and trade
policies issued by the government since 1998, shortly after the
country plunged into a combined economic and political crisis.

"The meeting is important for us, as we can use the occasion
to assure the international community that Indonesia's policies
are still in line with the WTO," he said.

Pos said that those policies likely to be questioned at the
meeting might include the licensing of textile imports, a ban on
mining activities in protected forests, import tariffs on luxury
cars, a ban on the import of U.S. chicken drumsticks and the
diplomatic ties between Indonesia and Israel.

Article XI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
(GATT) stipulates that no WTO member is allowed to impose any
prohibition or restriction on international trade other than
duties, taxes or charges, whether they are made effective through
quotas, import- or export licensing or other measures.

Minister of Industry and Trade Rini MS Soewandi, however, has
issued several protective decrees that limit the import of
several commodities, such as textiles, sugar, clove and steel.

On Oct. 30, 2002, Rini issued a decree that allowed only
textile producers to import textile products following repeated
complaints by local producers over the influx of illegally
imported, cheap textiles, mostly from China.

Pos said the decree did not go against the WTO ruling, as
Indonesia had notified the WTO textile committee of the decree in
May 2003.

"We will fight for the decree, as we want to prevent the sale
of illegally imported textiles here, which has created unfair
trading and inflicted losses on local textile producers," he
said.

Another of the much-criticized policies is a decree issued on
Sept. 24, 2002, which drastically reduced the number of sugar
importers, from 800 to only four companies.

Analysts have repeatedly warned that such protective policies
would only harm the country's reputation among the international
community.