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PRESS RELEASE: PRESS/TPRB/216
30 June 2003

TRADE POLICY REVIEW: INDONESIA
Reforms must continue to achieve growth and attract investment

The WTO report, along with the policy statement by the Government of Indonesia, will serve as a basis for the fourth Trade Policy Review (TPR) of Indonesia by the Trade Policy Review Body of the WTO on 28 and 30 June 2003.

Trade liberalization and other structural reforms undertaken by Indonesia since the severe crisis of 1997 have successfully stabilized the economy and fostered growth. But the economy remains fragile and the recent global downturn has heavily reduced foreign investment on which the economy critically depends, according to a report on the trade policies and practices of Indonesia released June 30 by the WTO Secretariat.

The report notes that further trade and other structural reforms, including strengthened governance and institutions, are necessary to alleviate poverty, to provide the basis for the sustained growth of the economy and to help boost investor confidence, something which the country urgently needs.

The report calls for greater transparency and public scrutiny of trade policies especially in sensitive sectors, where trade policy seems to be set on an ad hoc basis. It also points out that accelerated privatization and further reforms to state-owned enterprises together with deregulation and measures to foster competition could also help improve the economic environment.

The following documents are available in MS Word format.

• Secretariat report
  > Contents and summary observations (14 pages, 117KB)
  > Economic environment (15 pages, 403KB)
  > Trade policy regime: framework and objectives (16 pages, 132KB)
  > Trade policies and practices by measure (40 pages, 598KB)
  > Trade policies by sector (31 pages, 264KB)
  > Appendix tables (10 pages, 265KB)
    
• Government report (25 pages, 146KB)
    
• Chairperson's concluding remarks
    
• Minutes of the meeting are available approximately 6 weeks after the meeting.  

Note  back to top

Trade Policy Reviews are an exercise, mandated in the WTO agreements, in which member countries’ trade and related policies are examined and evaluated at regular intervals. Significant developments that may have an impact on the global trading system are also monitored. For each review, two documents are prepared: a policy statement by the government of the member under review, and a detailed report written independently by the WTO Secretariat. These two documents are then discussed by the WTO’s full membership in the Trade Policy Review Body (TPRB). These documents and the proceedings of the TPRB’s meetings are published shortly afterwards.

Print copies of previous TPR publications are available for sale from the WTO Secretariat, Centre William Rappard, 154 rue de Lausanne, 1211 Genève 21 and through the on-line bookshop.

The TPR publications are also available from our co-publisher Bernan Press, 4611-F Assembly Drive, Lanham, MD 20706-4391, United States.

Schedule of forthcoming reviews  back to top

Senegal/Niger: 28, 30 July 2003
Honduras: 22, 24 September 2003
Bulgaria: 15, 17 October 2003