ABF links lead to $666m in cooperation

JAKARTA (JP): Members of the ASEAN Business Forum (ABF), which was established in 1991, have obtained business cooperation deals worth more than US$666 million, according to an executive.

The cooperation will involve businessmen from member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), according to ABF's president, Aburizal Bakrie of Indonesia, as quoted by Kompas on Saturday. He was speaking in Singapore after an annual meeting of the forum.

About 400 businessmen representing 160 ABF member companies attended the meeting.

Aburizal said that the cooperation involved joint venture and technical assistance activities among ABF members. They generally focus their cooperation in the manufacturing, banking and infrastructure sectors.

The companies involved in such cooperation include the Bakrie Group, the MBf Group, Singapore Technologies, Siam Motors, the Dharmala Group, General Electrics, The Hour Glass Ltd., Lee Kim Tah, the KPN Group and Siam Steel Pipes.

For example, Malaysia's Diversified Resource Bhd, the Philippines' Ama Group and Indonesia's Dharmala Group had established a joint venture with a Singaporean company in Singapore.

Bukaka Teknik of Indonesia and Sikap Management of Malaysia are also cooperating in a transnational power project worth $200 million in Sumatra.

In addition, Bukaka Teknik and two other Indonesian companies, in cooperation with Tenaga Nasional of Malaysia will establish a power plant worth $1 billion in Renong, Malaysia.

ABF's membership is comprised of 160 companies, mostly from Indonesia and Malaysia.

Aburizal said that the forum would suggest that the ASEAN governments ease restrictions on immigration and customs procedures to boost trade and investment cooperation among the association's members.(31)