Soeharto says financial services will be protected<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto stressed yesterday that the
\ngovernment will not open financial services in the country too
\nmuch to foreign investors, even though many of them want to enter
\nthe country.<\/p>\n
\"Bapak President said if we open the financial services too
\nmuch, we will lose because we are not strong enough (in the
\nsector),\" Bank Bukopin president Muchtar Mandala told journalists
\nafter reporting to Soeharto about preparations for the two-day
\nAsia-Europe Business Meeting which starts tomorrow in Paris.<\/p>\n
Muchtar is among Indonesia's six-member delegation for the
\nmeeting, which is a follow-up of the Asia-Europe summit held in
\nBangkok earlier this year. The other delegates include A.R.
\nRamly, Bustanil Arifin, Hashim Djojohadikusumo and Iman Taufik,
\nas well as economist Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti, who is
\nfunctioning as an advisor to the delegation.<\/p>\n
Muchtar said many foreign investors in financial services have
\nexpressed their interest in expanding their business in Indonesia
\nbut could not do so because of a number of limitations set by the
\ngovernment.<\/p>\n
The government has so far licensed 10 foreign banks to operate
\nin the country. Four come from Europe, two are from the
\nNetherlands, one is from Germany and one is from Britain.<\/p>\n
\"France, Belgium and the others stress that they have none of
\ntheir banks operating here. They said: 'if you want us to invest
\nmore here, please allow us to open our banks and our insurance
\nfirms to support our investment here',\" Muchtar said.<\/p>\n
He noted that the opening of foreign banks will be alright.
\nHowever, Indonesia has its own interest in protecting its banking
\nindustry because the country, with some 240 banks, has been
\nconsidered to be over-banking.<\/p>\n
In addition, Muchtar said, Indonesia does not want to offer
\nsomething which is contradictory to its commitments to some
\ngroupings in which it is a member, including the Association of
\nSoutheast Asian Nations and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
\n(APEC) forum.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Dorodjatun said that unlike APEC, the Asia-Europe
\nMeeting can take binding decisions, considering that it groups
\nsovereign nations, 20 from Europe and 10 from Asia, seven ASEAN
\ncountries, plus China, South Korea and Japan.<\/p>\n
ASEAN groups Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines,
\nSingapore, Thailand and Vietnam.<\/p>\n
\"There is a hastiness on the part of Europe. They want to move
\nquickly, especially in the financial sector... If they talk
\nabout investment, they always want to corner us,\" Dorodjatun
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
He quoted Soeharto as saying that to build a better
\nunderstanding between Europe and Asia, developed countries in
\nEurope should take into account the development level of some
\nmember countries in ASEAN.<\/p>\n
Bustanil noted that European countries are pressing Indonesia
\nover the financial services because they feel they are suffering
\ndeficits in goods trade with Indonesia. In fact, he added,
\nIndonesia still suffers deficits in its trade with European
\ncountries.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Ramly and Taufik said they would try to talk to
\nEuropean countries about their increasingly protective market for
\nproducts from Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Ramly said many consumer products from Indonesia face
\ndifficulties in entering European countries because the latter
\nintroduce new measures, including dumping and social and
\nenvironmental clauses, to bar those products from entering their
\nmarkets.<\/p>\n
\"We will try to solve these kinds of problems in our meeting
\nwith them. We want our products to enter Europe more easily than
\nnow,\" Ramly said. (rid)<\/p>",
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