REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Indonesia is hoping that the Bali Package will be discussed at the upcoming 9th World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting and will be agreed upon by all members.

"If the whole package is accepted, it will be a phenomenal success after 12 years," Indonesia's Deputy Trade Minister Bayu Krisnamurthi told newsmen on Friday.

He further said that the next WTO ministerial-level meeting would be deemed successful if the Bali Package covering trade facilitation, agriculture and least developed countries (LDCs) was agreed upon, if issues not yet agreed upon were discussed further and those already agreed upon were approved.

Earlier negotiations at the General Council in Geneva had produced agreements with regards to the issues of LDCs, which is also supported by advanced countries, including the United States, Japan and European countries.

With regards to trade facilitation and agriculture, tough negotiations were expected to continue, especially related to technical matters, such as tariff rate quotas, export competition and trade facilitation negotiations, Krisnamurthi pointed out.

"For the sake of our interests and those of less developed countries, advanced countries must take care of the interests of countries that are in a more difficult position than them," he said.

Meanwhile, Indonesia would encourage an agreement on one of the points in the Bali Package if a deadlock took place later, Krisnamurthi stated.

The LDCs are one of the issues contained in the Bali Package that will be put up for an agreement at the 9th WTO Ministerial-Level meetings to be held from Dec. 3 to 6.

Several points in the LDCs issue had actually been agreed upon by WTO members during the General Council meeting in Geneva some time back, including simplified rules of origin, services waiver, the issues of duty free and quota free and market access to cotton.

The LDCs point in the Bali Package, which is of interest to the less developed countries, has actually been discussed and agreed upon by WTO members.

However, negotiations for settling the Bali Package fully will still be tough, including those related to issues of agriculture and trade facilitation, Krisnamurthi said.

Due to these conditions, negotiations for settling the Bali Package proposal that should have been finished in Geneva, will now have to take place at the meeting in Bali and be settled by ministers from 159 member countries of the WTO, he said.

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