APEC Supports Indonesian Proposal on Development Product Trade

Boracay, The Philippines (Antara Bali) - The Policy Support Unit (PSU) of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) supports the Indonesian proposal to boost the trade of development products of the region to improve economic balance between advanced and development countries.

"A study by the PSU of APEC gave a positive signal to support the proposal, which was forwarded by Indonesia a year earlier to promote the trade of development products of Asia Pacific," Trade Minister Rachmat Gobel said here on Sunday.

The proposal was made to identify correlations between trade of products being studied and rural development and eradication of poverty, Gobel said at a meeting of the Commission for Trade and Investment (CTI) held on the sidelines of a meeting of APEC trade ministers on this Philippine island of Boracay May 23-24.

Development products from Indonesia include palm oil, rubber, rattan and fishery products, Gobel said

The PSU of APEC saw the relevance of promoting trade of development products through cut of tariffs, he said.

The PSU of ApEC also saw there are many development products, which are highly competitive and potential to increase in trade.

"In general farm products have more positive correlation with rural development and eradication of poverty compared to industrial commodities," the minister said.

The PSU of APEC was also of the opinion that support from a number of non trade factors is needed to make rural development and eradication of poverty more successful.

The factors include adequate transport and telecommunication infrastructure, education, training and financial services, health security , etc.

The Indonesian minister welcome the result of the study by the PSU of APEC and expressed gratitude to the cosponsoring economies -- Brunei Darussalam, Peru, China and Vietnam.

Proposal to promote the trade of development products was one of the focuses of the Indonesian trade minister in meeting of APEC trade ministers in 2015.

As a follow up of the result of the study by PSU, Indonesia will hold dialogs on trade policies on development products in August in Cebu, the Philippines, Gobel said. (WDY)