RI urges developing nations to not depend on advanced countries

The Indonesian government appealed to fellow developing countries and emerging economies to desist from being overly reliant on developed nations’ markets to prevent their economy and trade from being solemnly determined by developed nations.

"On this note, I would like to remind us all that the trend until now and will become prominent going forward -- for our crops, our economy, and our prosperity -- is to not rely excessively on the developed nations’ markets," Indonesian Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Mahendra Siregar stated here on Tuesday.

Vice Minister Siregar delivered the statement at an International Workshop on Crops for Peace (IWCP) 2019 held in Jakarta.

Siregar stressed that now is the time for developing nations to determine global trade and economic trends, as most countries in the world are developing nations.

"I do not need to remind us all that most of the top largest 10 and 20 economies today are developing and emerging economies, and the prospect is even more obvious," he remarked.

"However, our trade, our development, our global value chain, and our mindset still follow an outdated pattern since the pre-World War where developing countries just produce things to be consumed by developed nations," he pointed out.

Speaking in connection with the situation, the vice foreign affairs minister encouraged Indonesia's fellow developing countries and emerging economies to disrupt and revise such outdated pattern.

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He also encouraged all developing nations to take a cue from the current trade war and the slowest trade growth worldwide.

"It suggests that unless developing countries and emerging economies diversify our trade trends more toward domestic, regional, and fellow developing emerging economies, then you are forever prone to the risk of not being able to adopt the real sustainable development pattern," Vice Minister Siregar cautioned.

He also drew emphasis to the implementation of such diversification on trade trends, especially on crops products.

"Let us ensure that we produce, trade, market, and transact the crops for most of the global population in need of sustainable and affordable crops and not just allocating too much of the rare and costly resources just to survive a few," he added.

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