Australian businesses work through aid budget<\/p>\n
By Dewi Anggraeni<\/p>\n
MELBOURNE (JP): Australia, it seems, is determined to
\nparticipate in Asia. Prime Minister Paul Keating continuously
\nencourages Australian businesses to look toward Asia in trade and
\ninvestment. However, the simple fact is, they have not been
\nheading for Asia in droves. Asia, to many Australians in
\nbusiness, is still very much the realm of the unknown. Excitement
\nabounds in there, but should one take the plunge? What if one
\nmissed the excitement bin and fell into the black hole?<\/p>\n
While seminars about doing business in Asia always attract
\ninterest, the series of seminars hosted by AusAID (formerly
\nAustralian International Development Assistance Bureau or AIDAB)
\nprovided more focussed information for those still in doubt.<\/p>\n
Called Aid Business, Good Business: Accessing the $35 Billion
\nInternational Aid Market, the seminars held in Sydney and
\nMelbourne on April 4 and 6 respectively, were extremely well
\nattended. Businesses with something to offer developing countries
\nbut which hesitated to take the seemingly enormous risk, learned
\nthat money was available to help reduce this risk.<\/p>\n
Schemes such as Private Sector Linkages Program assists to
\nfund feasibility studies for joint ventures in developing
\ncounties. Then when the path no longer appears so daunting, in
\nfact becomes positively alluring, the next hurdle, finance for
\nthe project, becomes surmountable also. Apart from AusAID itself,
\ninternational and multilateral organizations like the United
\nNations, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank are ready
\nto provide soft loans for trade activities that fit into
\n\"development\" categories.<\/p>\n
The special feature of this series was the revelation to
\nAustralian businesses that Japan's Overseas Development
\nAssistance (ODA) program, worth A$9.3 billion (US$ 6.8 billion)
\nin the Asia Pacific region alone, was open to non-Japanese
\nbidders. The two major recipients of the bilateral ODA in 1993
\nwere China ($1.3 billion) and Indonesia ($41.1 billion), where
\nmany Australian companies would like to go but are afraid to take
\nthe first step.<\/p>\n
Australian companies would be able to access ODA not only by
\nbeing subcontractors to the Japanese consulting companies, but
\nalso by competing for the supply of goods and services for a
\nparticular project. The Overseas Economic Cooperative Fund, for
\ninstance, places the responsibility of procurement on the
\nborrower. The borrower is then required to obtain goods and
\nservices from the international competitive market. One of the
\nadvantages of this requirement is that size of a business is not
\na prerequisite.<\/p>\n
A small company with a specific expertise can easily slot
\nitself into a project team, provided it can relate and work well
\nwith the rest of the team. Elizabeth Sayce, the Australian Trade
\nCommissioner in Tokyo, said that opportunities for Australian
\ncompanies lie especially in health, medical, education and
\ntelecommunication fields.<\/p>\n
To assist businesses participating in specific fields, AusAID
\nhas established the ASEAN-Australia Economic Cooperation Program
\nLinkages Stream. This scheme supports activities in priority
\nsectors agreed between ASEAN and Australia.<\/p>\n
The Australian government obviously wants to make sure that
\ntheir businesses are well looked after. It assists with
\nfeasibility studied on joint ventures, points them in the right
\ndirection for available finance and shows them necessary
\ntechniques of accessing the market. What else do the companies
\nneed?<\/p>\n
They need to develop relations with the appropriate bodies in
\nthe recipient country. While the banks and other aid bodies
\nprovide the money, it is the recipient country who nominates the
\ncompanies to work for particular projects. Even here help is not
\nfar away. The aspiring companies can use the service of Austrade,
\nthe government's trade promotion body, who will then liaise with
\nthe appropriate bodies.<\/p>\n
Australia has vested interest in participating in a
\ndevelopment aid program in the region. It is good business. The
\nMinister for Development Co-operation and Pacific island Affairs,
\nGordon Bilney, states that Australian aid to Indonesia alone,
\nworth $740 million between 1980 and 1993, has generated a $1.3
\nbillion return to the Australian economy.<\/p>\n
To maximize the effectiveness of the business, on March 29,
\nAIDAB changed its name to AusAID. A survey conducted showed that
\nthe agency's previous name did not deliver in terms of public
\nrecognition. Only 10 percent of respondents had heard of AIDAB
\nand only 3 percent of these knew what it stood for.<\/p>\n
With a more explicit name, AusAID is hoping to attract more
\nworthy and commercially viable proposals. In 1994-95 the agency
\nhas been allocated a budget of $1.1 billion for its various
\ndevelopment assistance schemes.<\/p>\n
Dewi Anggraeni is a journalist and writer based in Australia.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/australian-businesses-work-through-aid-budget-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }