RI SHOULD NOT WORRY ABOUT FREE TRADE : MINISTER

Medan, North Sumatra, Jan 11 (ANTARA) - Indonesia should not worry about free trade because it has many products with better quality, Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) Minister Syarifuddin Hasan said.

"What we need to do is to increase our readiness (to face the free trade area)," the minister said after a meeting with banking institution representatives here on Monday.

He said that Indonesian businesses needed to improve the quality of their products so that they would be attractive to the world market.

Besides, efficiency should also be observed in every sector, including lowering banking interest rates and removing illegal levies that raise production costs.

Businesses should thereafter increase their production so that the number of trade items would increase.

"If these things are carried out we believe our products will be better and be able to compete with products from other countries," he said.

The minister acknowledged that certain groups of people were concerned with the free trade.

But their worries could not be proven because many national businessmen are ready to compete with their high quality products.

"Many of our products have good quality," the minister added.

The ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) has been effective as of January 2010.***