Arientha Primanita & Dion Bisara – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has urged developing countries to review restrictions on trade beyond tariff walls in order to boost economic development and standards of living.

"If we want to achieve robust global trade, in which growth markets serve as the engine, we must tackle [non-tariff measures] and ease trade in services," Yudhoyono said in his opening remarks at the World Export Development Forum, which opened on Monday and runs until Wednesday at the Shangri-La Hotel in Jakarta.

Non-tariff barriers refer to policies that restrict imports, such as quotas or lengthy procedures. Indonesia is now the world's 15th largest economy.

"Although the WTO [World Trade Organization] has addressed this issue, there remain some aspects that are not yet fully dealt with," Yudhoyono said, adding that he hoped non-tariff measures would be discussed in December next year at the WTO Ministerial Meeting in Bali.

"For countries with growing populations, trade is an important component of their food security strategy," Yudhoyono said. "It helps stabilize domestic food availability, especially in the face of climate change-induced supply shocks. Therefore, unimpeded supply chain links are critical to seamless trade in goods and services, which support food security initiatives."

Members of Indonesia's crude palm oil industry have previously expressed frustration at environmental standards set by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, a standard used by many European buyers.

Producers from Indonesia, the top CPO producing country, exited the RSPO last year and helped the government to create a new standard.

Fadhil Hasan, the executive director of the Indonesian Palm Oil Producers Association (Gapki), expressed support for the president's efforts to influence global trade and to set a unified standard.

"The real constraints in international trade is not really in tariffs," he said. "These non-tariff measures are actually blocking the [trade in] goods or protecting domestic industries."

Patricia Francis, executive director of the International Trade Center, a joint agency of the WTO and the United Nations, said that despite an economic slowdown in mature markets in recent times, emerging economies have been quite resilient. She said the private sector around the world had given increased attention to developing markets like Indonesia, other parts of emerging Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Indonesian Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan said that: "Indonesian exports to other emerging markets have continued to grow at a much higher rate than exports to traditional markets like Japan and the US."

The WEDF said that emerging markets will account for upward of 80 percent of total global economic growth this year, driven in part by trade among these markets. Growth in trade among emerging markets makes up one-fifth of the world's total trade and is expected to surpass trade flows between developed and emerging economies by 2030.