Japan mission arrives here<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): A Japanese mission arrived here yesterday to
\ndiscuss Japan's aid for Indonesia under its Official Development
\nAid (ODA) scheme for fiscal 1994-1995.<\/p>\n
The Japanese embassy said that the mission, led by Shigekazu
\nSato, the soft loan director of the Economic Cooperation Bureau
\nof Japan's Foreign Ministry, will meet with Coordinating Minister
\nfor Economy and Finance Saleh Afiff and State Minister of
\nNational Development Planning Ginandjar Kartasasmita during its
\nApril 10-16 visit.<\/p>\n
The mission consists of representatives of the ministries of
\nforeign affairs, finance, international trade and industry,
\nfisheries, forestry and agriculture, transportation, post and
\ntelecommunications and the Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund
\n(OECF).<\/p>\n
Indonesia has been the largest recipient of Japan's official
\ndevelopment aid. Japan, a member of the Consultative Group for
\nIndonesia, pledged $1.44 billion in economic and technical
\nassistance for Indonesia in fiscal 1993-94.(03)<\/p>\n
Voksel's new cable plant<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): PT Voksel Electric, an electricity cable
\nproducer, starts operating its new Rp 40 billion (US$18.67
\nmillion) plant in Cileungsi, Bogor, West Java, to produce
\nmiddle-voltage cables.<\/p>\n
\"The new plant, with an installed capacity of 6,000 tons of
\n20-kilovoltage cables per year, is expected to meet the
\nincreasing demand for cables in the country,\" Voksel's president,
\nSugih Tjandrawinata, said during the inauguration of the plant
\nover the weekend.<\/p>\n
He said the company, in cooperation with Showa Electric Wire
\nand Cable Co. of Japan, has thus far produced around 19,500 tons
\nof aluminum low-voltage cables, 1,160 tons of enameled wire and
\n1,750 single core kilometers (ScKm) of telephone cables per year
\nfrom its plants in Pulogadung and Cakung, both in East Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Most of its products are supplied to the State Electricity
\nCompany (PLN), PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom) and PT
\nIndosat. PLN is reported to need some 15.4 million kilometers of
\ncable per year, while the demand for telephone cables is
\nestimated at 28.3 million ScKm. (fhp)<\/p>\n
Exhibition ship introduced<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The Agency for the Management of Strategic
\nIndustries (BPIS) will prepare a semi-container ship, to be
\ncalled Caraka Niaga III-7, for a floating center that can be
\nleased to private companies to promote their goods.<\/p>\n
Achmad Subianto, an official of BPIS's Economic and Finance
\nDepartment, said in Pantoloan, Central Sulawesi, on Saturday,
\nthat the ship will be available for private companies soon after
\nit completes an exhibition tour of the 27 provinces in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
According to Achmad, the floating exhibition on Caraka Niaga
\nIII-7 will have many advantages because such a mobile exhibition
\nis able to reach potential markets with a greater number of
\nprospective buyers. (03)<\/p>\n
S'pore retains tax privilege<\/p>\n
SINGAPORE (Kyodo): Japan on Saturday acceded to Singapore's
\nrequest to retain until the year 2000 a tax privilege that Japan
\ngrants to developing countries, although the island republic is
\nnow Southeast Asia's most developed economy.<\/p>\n
Under a taxation agreement signed by officials from the two
\ncountries here on Saturday, most Japanese companies operating in
\nthe island republic will continue to be exempted from taxation on
\ntheir profits both in Singapore and Japan.<\/p>\n
Currently, most Japanese companies here are exempted from
\npaying corporate tax because Singapore has offered tax
\nconcessions to attract foreign companies to set up businesses in
\nthe country.<\/p>\n
These companies also do not pay tax in Japan because Japanese
\ntax authorities view them as having paid tax in Singapore -- a
\nprivilege Japan normally grants only to developing countries to
\nhelp them lure much-needed foreign investments to build up their
\neconomies.<\/p>\n
EU's investment projects<\/p>\n
ATHENS (AFP): Finance minister of the European Union meeting
\nhere over the weekend identified 10 large projects -- mainly
\nhigh-speed rail and roads -- to kick off a large-scale investment
\nprogram to boost economic growth.<\/p>\n
But France, Britain and Germany maintained their opposition to
\nhelping fund the projects through special \"union bonds\".<\/p>\n
EU Finance Commissioner Henning Christophersen said the 10
\nprojects would be formally approved at an EU summit in June, and
\nconstruction work would start within two years.<\/p>\n
British Chancellor of the Exchequer Kenneth Clarke said: \"I
\nwasn't the only one to express doubts about a new loan.\"<\/p>\n
The meeting focused on a 120 billion Ecu (US$135 billion)
\nproject to build transport, telecommunications and energy
\nnetworks across Europe by the turn of the century, which was
\nlaunched at an EU summit last December.<\/p>\n
It is a key part of an EU initiative to fight unemployment and
\npromote recovery from economic recession.<\/p>\n
Most countries remained skeptical of an earlier European
\nCommission proposal to raise a six-year loan of 48 billion Ecu
\n($54 billion) to finance the some of the work, saying that
\nexisting sources of finance were sufficient.<\/p>\n
Russian oil output falls<\/p>\n
MOSCOW (Reuter): Russia's steep drop in crude oil output in
\nthe first quarter of this year is a direct consequence of the
\nchain of debt strangling the economy, Fuel and Energy Minister
\nYuri Shafranik said.<\/p>\n
\"The decline in demand (due to lack of solvent consumers) has
\nbeen accumulating for a long time...There comes a time when you
\njust have to shut down wells,\" he told Reuters after a meeting
\ndevoted to the nuclear industry's financial crisis on Friday.<\/p>\n
The Fuel and Energy Ministry's Infotek news service said on
\nThursday that crude oil and gas condensate output fell to 73.9
\nmillion tons in January-March from 88.3 million tons in the same
\n1993 period.<\/p>\n
The fall of 13.4 million tons, 15.1 percent, was one of the
\nbiggest recorded since annual output started to slide from its
\n1988 Soviet-era peak of 570 million tons.<\/p>\n
The latest first-quarter figures did not include output by
\njoint ventures, but still suggested the 1994 output target of 327
\nmillion tons, down from 354 million in 1993, could be in
\njeopardy.<\/p>\n
IDB's regional office in KL<\/p>\n
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): The Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank
\n(IDB) is to open a regional office in Kuala Lumpur later this
\nyear to coordinate its activities in Asia, its president was
\nquoted saying Saturday.<\/p>\n
\"The opening of the Kuala Lumpur office, scheduled for the
\nthird quarter of the year, is part of our new strategy to expand
\nthe role of the IDB\", Bernama news agency Saturday quoted Osama
\nFaquih as saying.<\/p>\n
Osama left for home late Friday after a brief visit to the
\nMalaysian capital, where he held talks with Deputy Premier Anwar
\nIbrahim and Foreign Minister Abdullah Badawi.<\/p>\n
The regional office's functions would include receiving
\nproject applications, monitoring projects and liaising with key
\nofficials in the Islamic countries of the region, Osama said.<\/p>\n
The IDB, set up 19 years ago, has 47 members, including
\npredominantly-Moslem Malaysia, which is one of its founder
\nmembers.<\/p>",
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