APEC meeting to be held here

JAKARTA (JP): Government officials and business leaders of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum will meet here this month to discuss problems in the infrastructure sectors, an executive said yesterday.

"Complicated regulations have slowed private sector investments in the infrastructure sector," Secretary-General of the Ministry of Public Works Ruslan Diwiryo said.

"That is why we will hold a discussion from Sept. 19 to Sept. 21 at the Borobudur Inter-Continental Hotel," he said.

The Public-Private Sector Dialog on APEC Cooperation in Infrastructure will be opened by Minister of Public Works Radinal Moochtar.

"Because investors in the infrastructure sector want to be sure about political risks, developments of inflation and other economic fundamentals we have to create appropriate conditions that will support their investments," Ruslan said.

"This is important because we have to compete with the other APEC members to get international funds for infrastructure development," he said.

He explained that Indonesia needs about US$50 billion in investments for infrastructure development until the end of the century.

"This tremendous demand cannot be provided by the government alone," he said.

A recent study by the World Bank indicates that the East Asian region needs about $1.2 trillion to $1.5 trillion of investment for infrastructure development through the end of the century.

"China is a great challenge for our country because it will take half of the international funds for its infrastructure projects," Ruslan said.

APEC groups Australia, Canada, Chile, Mexico, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Indonesia, Brunei, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and the United States.

Imam Taufik, a deputy chairman of the Indonesian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said that from the dialog, which will be attended by 150 participants, Indonesia can learn about worldwide financing.

Rahardi Ramelan, a deputy chairman of the National Development Planning Board, explained that the results of the dialog will be submitted at the APEC summit in November in Japan. (31)