Maintaining RI-Dutch business relations<\/p>\n
Trade and investment relations between Indonesia and the
\nNetherlands are exactly 400 years old this year. This long
\nhistory explains the strong economic ties between the two
\ncountries. Bilateral trade now totals US$1.6 billion per year.
\nIndonesian exports to the Netherlands are $1 billion, partially
\nreflecting the important distribution function that the
\nNetherlands has for the European market.<\/p>\n
The Netherlands are the seventh largest foreign investor in
\nIndonesia, with investments totaling over $11.5 billion.
\nNetherlands companies in Indonesia are active in many industries,
\nsuch as food, including Friesland Dairy Foods (better known as
\nSusu Bendera), Nutricia, Unilever and Heineken; chemicals, AK20
\nNobel and DSM; banking, ABN Amro, ING and Rabobank; food
\nprocessing; textile printing machines; construction, Ballast
\nNedam, Decorient and Boskalis; as well as many other fields. And
\nthere is, of course, Philips, one of the largest foreign
\ninvestors in Indonesia. Annual Dutch approved investments in
\nIndonesia totaled $320 million in 1997.<\/p>\n
For companies in the Netherlands that want to start a business
\nin Asia, Indonesia is very often one of the first countries they
\nlook at. At least 5 percent of the Netherlands' population has
\nfamily ties with Indonesia. Despite the current economic
\nsituation, the number of Netherlands' companies interested in
\nentering the market is not yet significantly different from
\nprevious years. They are, however, looking more into local
\nproduction than before.<\/p>\n
Both the presence and the interests of Netherlands' businesses
\nin Indonesia reflect the structure of the Dutch economy: a large
\nagribusiness sector with deep specializations and supplying
\nindustries in a wide range of subsectors, a strong cluster of
\nchemicals and energy-related industries and a strong construction
\nsector, focused mainly on water infrastructure (the construction
\nof ports and waterways), and some highly specialized
\nenvironmental technology companies.<\/p>\n
Trade and investment<\/p>\n
The Dutch economy is booming. At a growth of 3.8 percent per
\nyear, the Netherlands is one of Europe's star performers. After
\nmany years of economic struggling, characterized by the vicious
\ncircle of excessive social security spending, rising government
\nbudget deficits and rising unemployment, an important turnaround
\nas been realized. Two faces have created this turnaround:
\n * Drastic cutting of social security benefits, especially the
\nbenefits for unemployment and sickness. Whereas the benefits used
\nto amount to 90 percent of the income last earned, these benefits
\nhave been reduced to less than 70 percent. Furthermore, the
\nconditions for access to these benefits have been tightened, and
\nthe time allowed to make use of these benefits has been reduced
\nto three years, creating a strong incentive for people to reenter
\nthe labor market. Despite heavy protests, this reversal broke the
\nvicious circle and led to less government spending, reduced
\ntaxation and more employment.
\n * National agreement between employers and employee organizations
\nto keep wage increases moderate. This has resulted in labor costs
\nin the Netherlands now being 10 percent lower than in Belgium and
\neven 32 percent lower than in Germany, which has contributed to
\nemployment. Over the last four years, 400,000 new jobs were
\ncreated and unemployment was reduced from over 9 percent in the
\n1980s, to less than 6 percent now.<\/p>\n
These developments have made the Netherlands meet the strict
\nmonetary and fiscal conditions for participating in the common
\nEuropean currency euro, which will be introduced on January 1,
\n1999.<\/p>\n
Indonesian-Netherlands Association<\/p>\n
The Indonesian-Netherlands Association (INA) Chamber of
\nCommerce supports the development of economic ties between
\nIndonesia and the Netherlands. First of all, it helps Indonesian
\nexporters find their way into the Dutch market. Information on
\nvirtually every company and on many markets in the Netherlands is
\navailable at INA. The Netherlands is an attractive market in
\nitself because of the rapidly rising wealth of its 15 million
\npeople and its dynamic and internationally very open business
\nenvironment.<\/p>\n
The Netherlands is also an important starting point and
\ndistribution center for Asian companies entering the European
\nmarket. More than 200 million consumers in Europe can be reached
\nwithin 24 hours after goods have arrived in the Port of
\nRotterdam, the world's busiest port with an annual turnover of
\nabout 300 million tonnes, or Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport,
\nEurope's fourth largest airport.<\/p>\n
The Port of Rotterdam handles all kinds of cargo, but is
\nespecially well equipped for containers, forest products, dry and
\nliquid bulk (coal, ore and oil) and food. INA helps about 100
\nIndonesian companies each year to do business in the Netherlands.
\nA lot of information is available at INA and it helps establish
\ncontacts in the Netherlands.<\/p>\n
INA has a number of support facilities for Indonesian-Dutch
\ncooperation. The two most import of these are:
\n * Through Indonestec, a joint technological research of
\nIndonesian and Dutch companies strongly subsidized. Last year,
\nsome successful cooperation projects were started between
\nIndonesia and Dutch companies. Production facilities were
\nmodernized with the help of Indonestec. In another project,
\ntechnology was developed to make vegetable crops more resistant
\nto diseases.
\n * The Netherlands' Management Cooperation Program (NMCP) makes
\nexperienced, retired, Dutch managers available at very low cost
\nto Indonesian companies, to assist them in developing and
\nimplementing new production systems, or other kinds of management
\nsupport. In 1997, almost 50 experts were placed with various
\ncompanies throughout Indonesia to provide a very broad range of
\nsupport. In 1998, the aim is to place 60 experts in Indonesia.
\nThey can be particularly helpful in engineering production
\nprocesses to make them more competitive on the international
\nmarket. The formula of sending retired managers to emerging
\ncountries has proven extremely successful worldwide, and with
\nover 4,000 experts available in 200 different fields of
\nexpertise, this program is the largest of its kind in the world.<\/p>\n
There are many other subsidized facilities available to
\nsupport almost all aspects of Indonesian-Netherlands business,
\nranging from company matching and feasibility studies to equity
\ncapital.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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