InfoSAWIT, JAKARTA– The government tries its best to intensify the understanding about World Trade Organization (WTO) regulations to the officers in the National Seminar,“Challenges in the Implementation of WTO Regulation on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures and in the Dispute Settlement Mechanism” in Jakarta.
“It is important to intensify the understanding to the officers for it would make the regulations in Indonesia run as it should and be the same with the WTO regulations,” General Director of International Trade Negotiation, Iman Pambagyo saidin the official statement toInfoSAWIT, Thursday (18/10/2018).
He also said, the national policies were protested for they hit the international commitment ever since Indonesia joined WTO in 1995. This forced the government to obey what WTO regulated. But it does not mean that the government has no basic to regulate the progress to develop nationally. “The government is committed to regulate the policies nationallt so that the progress keeps running, the industries get the access to develop, and every region in this country should go forward too,” he said.
Meanwhile WTO really appreciates the international trade which is free from the intervention of every government or the policy published by the government for it may distort the fair trade and the market, such as, the accusation about subsidy. It is clear that the making of anti-subsidy instrument as the effort to trade remedies is always advantaged by the developed or developing countries. “Ever since WTO was made, we know that the anti-subsidy agreement is always applied but there is no sign to decrease,” he said.
Director of Trade Security, Pradnyawati said that until 2017 there had been 486 times of anti-subsidy investigations that the members of WTO initiated. 257 investigations ended to the countervailing duties and Indonesia had 9 times of the duties.
So Pradnyawati continued, the officers should really understand the WTO regulations, namely, about subsidy. “Today’s seminar should be the start to understand what subsidy is – what is allowed and what is not allowed by WTO. The better understanding would ease us to answer the challenges in the international trade by advantaging the chance so that the our regulations could really run as they should and get every idea,” Pradnyawati said.
The seminar was collaboration among the General Directorate of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Trade, and Embassy of Indonesia in Washington, United States of America by presenting the former of Chairman of Dipute Body, WTO, Prof. James Bacchus. Bacchus told about the regulations in WTO about subsidy and anti-subsidy, the technic to arrange the policy which may be the same with WTO, the mechanism of dispute in WTO, and other his experiences when leading the organization.(T2)
