WORLD TRADE WT/MIN(96)/ST/22
9December 1996
ORGANIZATION(96-5198)
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE Original: English
Singapore, 9-13December 1996
INDONESIA
Statement byH.E. Mr.Tungky Ariwibowo
Minister ofIndustry andTrade
Letmestartbyextending oursincere gratitude totheGovernment andpeople ofSingapore
fortheirwarm hospitality. Asafellow ASEAN Member, Indonesia shares Singapore 'sprideinhosting
thisfirstMinisterial Conference oftheWTO. Letmealsoexpress ourdeep appreciation tothe
Director-General, Mr.Renato Ruggiero, andhisassociates intheWTO Secretariat fortheirefforts
inpreparing thisConference. Indeed, thisConference marks amajor milestone fortheWTO, aswe
reaffirm ourcollective faithintheopenandrule-based multilateral trading system andourfullsupport
fortheroleoftheWTO inoverseeing theimplementation ofthisprinciple.
Overthepastdecade, many developing countries haveunilaterally liberalized theireconomies
andvoluntarily moved towards openmarket asameans ofgenerating economic growth. Forthose
countries, exposure toglobal markets, while certainly opening upmany opportunities, alsoposes
challenges botheconomic andpolitical. Notonlymustbusinesses adapt totheneweconomic climate,
butinstitutions must alsobeadjusted anddeveloped. Forsome countries andforsome cultures, it
mayevenbethecasethatthesystem ofvalues mustchange. Thisiscertainly aprocess thatcannot
takeplace overnight, butrequires time. Thisfactmustbeproperly understood ifdeveloping countries
aretoparticipate effectively andequitably inthemultilateral trading system.
Itisinthisperspective, thatIndonesia welcomes theopportunity afforded bythisfirstMinisterial
Conference toreview progress inimplementing theWTO Agreements. Ourretrospective lookatthe
progress inthelasttwoyears hasledustoasomewhat mixed conclusion. Ontheonehand, weare
encouraged withtheeffective application oftariff reductions, signs ofencouraging rateofgrowth in
theworld trade, increasing integration ofeconomies intothemultilateral trading system, andmarked
improvement ofthedispute settlement mechanism. Ontheother hand, ourexperience hasshown
continuing difficulties inmarket access. Besides, wealsonotewithconcern theemerging symptom
ofmarginalization, especially among theleastdeveloped countries, aswellasthediminishing attention
tothedevelopment dimension.
Foritspart,Indonesia hastaken seriously theneedfortimely implementation ofitsownWTO
obligations. Inanumber ofareas, wehaveproceeded tomeetourcommitments atafaster pacethan
isrequired ofus.Wehavealsounilaterally liberalized ourtrading andinvestment regime toanextent
wellbeyond whatwehavecommitted toduring theUruguay Round. Intheareaoftariffs, forinstance,
Indonesia adopted apre-announced progressive andsubstantial schedule oftariff reduction onMFN
basis, which willbring more than90percentofitstarifflinesto10percentorlessbytheyear2003.
In1995, mostoftheNTB hadbeenremoved. In1994 wehaveeliminated mostbarriers oftheFDI
which contributed toourcommitment ofhigheconomic growth policy.
Itisobvious that,fordeveloping countries, implementing thecommitments thattheyhave
undertaken, bothprocedural andsubstantive, intheUruguay Round hasnotbeenaneasyexercise,WT/MIN(96)/ST/22
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inparticular when itcomes tonewandcomplex areas, suchasservices, TRIPS andTRIMS. Inspite
oftheirenormous efforts, therehavebeengenuine difficulties thattheystillhavetoovercome. Hence,
thespecial anddifferential treatment provision anditsconsistent application accorded tothedeveloping
countries meet theirrelevance. Therefore, inorder toensure thefullandeffective implementation
oftheUruguay Round commitments byall,there isanurgent needtointensify technical assistance
todeveloping countries withtheviewtofacilitating thefulfilment oftheircommitments.
Weareconcernedastothelargenumberofanti-dumpinginvestigationsthathavebeenconducted
againstdevelopingcountriesaswellastheproliferationofsafeguardactionsbysomedevelopedcountries
thathaveaccompanied theimplementation oftheAgreement onTextiles andClothing. Weexpect
thattheMFA phase-out should involve commercially meaningful items, andthatthereshould begreater
discipline intheuseofsafeguards, anti-dumping measures, andrules oforigin soastoavoid undue
distortions inglobal trade.
Apart from reviewing theimplementation oftheWTO Agreements, theConference isalso
mandated toaddress theongoing negotiations aswellastheagenda already built-in intheAgreements.
Inthisregard, Indonesia supports theefforts toconclude those areas oftheservices negotiations that
arestilloutstanding. Forthispurpose, weareintheprocess ofreviewing ourowncapabilities, based
onourpresent levelofdevelopment, inorder todetermine theappropriate degree ofourparticipation.
Wearelooking forward toconstructive discussions inthisConference which willhopefully pavethe
waytoward progress intheforthcoming negotiations. Inthisconnection, wealsostand ready foran
InformationTechnologyAgreement,providedthatsomeflexibilityinitsimplementationwillbeaccorded
tothedeveloping countries. Wefeelthatefficient services andinformation technology sectors are
indeed critical foroureconomic development, asweareentering theinformation ageofthetwenty-first
century. With regard tothebuilt-in-agenda, mydelegation isprepared toendorse therelevant
conclusions andrecommendations ofthevarious WTO bodies. Besides, wealsoseethemerit ina
sufficiently early preparation forthefuture negotiation inagriculture.
WeunderstandthatthisMinisterialConferenceisalsoexpectedtoaddresschallengesofevolving
world economy. Atonetime, theGATT wasconcerned onlywithtariffs andother measures thatwere
applied directly attheborder. Withthecompletion oftheUruguay Round, forexample, many policies
thatwerepreviously under thenational jurisdiction alsofallunder international rules. Wealsorecognize
thattheincreasing interdependence anddynamism oftheworld economy hasunavoidably ledtothe
broadening oftheinternational trade agenda. Inthisregard, mydelegation stands ready tocontinue
deliberations ontherelationship between trade andtheenvironment, inthecontext ofachieving
sustainable development which takesintoaccount thesynergistic linkages between tradeliberalization,
economic development andachievement ofhigher environmental standards. Wearealsoprepared
tostartuponconstructive discussion ontherelationship between multilateral trading system andregional
trade agreements aswellasontheissue oftrade facilitation. However, weprefer tobecautious in
addressing theproposed issue ofcompetition lawsandpolicies. Weareoftheviewthatdiscussions
onthisissue intheWTO should befocused ontheinternational aspects ofcompetition, suchasthe
so-called restrictive business practices, andthemal-practices ofanti-dumping, rather thancompetition
lawsandpolicies applied atthenational level.
With regard toseveral other newissues, which arebeing proposed inthisConference, such
astherelationship between trade andlabour standards, theissue oftrade andinvestment andthatof
government procurement, Iwould liketomake theposition ofmyGovernment clear. While weattach
great importance totheuplifting ofthestandards ofourlabour, wecontinue tobelieve thattheILO,
isthemost appropriate forum todiscuss theissue andnottheWTO. Inourview, tolinklabour
standards andtrade willeasily runtheriskofcreating anewform ofprotectionism which doesnot
helpinmeeting theultimate objective oftheWTO.WT/MIN(96)/ST/22
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With respect totrade andinvestment, webelieve thattheissue ofmultilateral framework for
investment isessentially outside thescope andcompetence oftheWTO. Asallofusmayrecall that
onlyeightmonths agoinMidrand, South Africa, theInternational Community hasalready mandated
UNCTAD tothoroughly study theissue, andwedonotseeanyjustified reason fortheWTO toduplicate
thework ofUNCTAD inthisarea. Inthecaseofgovernment procurement, Indonesia hasunilaterally
introduced anewandmore transparent procurement system. Thisnewsystem ismuch in-line with
theUruguay Round Government Procurement Agreement, andmayevenbeconsidered animprovement
totheGPAsincetherearenoMFN exceptions. Nevertheless, foradeveloping country likeIndonesia,
government procurement represents animportant instrument ofnational development and,therefore,
wereserve therighttomaintaining itsrole.
Inconclusion, letmestress ourbelief that,inthefaceofthechallenge ofincreasing economic
globalization, anopen andrule-based multilateral trading system, which inherently incorporate
development dimension, offers thebestpromise forincreasing theliving standards ofourpeoples.
TheWTO hasraised thehopes thattheinternational community willbeabletorelyonamultilateral
instrument thataddresses thischallenge. Therefore, wewould liketotakethisopportunity toonce
again, reaffirm Indonesia 'scommitment totheWTO.