ADVANCED COUNTRIES IMPOSE HIGHER AGRICULTURAL SUBSIDIES: MINISTER

Denpasar, Bali, June 15 (ANTARA) - Advanced states provide higher subsidies for their agricultural products than the subsidies provided by the Indonesian government to its products so that Indonesia faces difficulties to exports its agricultural commodities, a minister said.

"The subsidy provided by Indonesia for its agricultural commodities is very small if compared with those provided for the same products in advanced states," Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said here on Sunday.

She said that with that fact one should not be worried if Indonesia still imposed subsidies on its products because the subsidy in term of state budget was always deliberated with members of the House of Representatives (DPR).

"So, the need to protect the people is already discussed with the lawmakers," the minister said.

She said that Indonesian products were facing difficulties to penetrate the global market because advanced nations provided high subsidies for their agricultural products.

In the meantime, various countries have also practiced protectionism in the face of global financial crisis despite the fact that many countries had advised protectionism should be avoided.

"This is a heavy challenge in an effort to recover the world economy, particularly the world trade," the minister added.

Mulyani said that although all countries called for avoidance of protectionism for it would worsen the world economy, yet in realities they depended much on their national sentiment which tended to protect their national interests.

"This is just reasonable for all countries to do that," she added.

In the meantime, the World Trade Organization (WTO) has resumed talks on export subsidies.

Ministers and ministerial-level representatives of agricultural produce exporting countries in the Cairns Group met in Bali on June 7-9, 2009 to discuss the stalled Doha Round of talks on free trade.