Business summiteers seek to create direct links

The Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) is hosting the two-day Asian-African Business Summit 2005 which began on Wednesday, where nearly 500 CEOs and business leaders from the two continents were meeting and exploring new business opportunities. The Jakarta Post's Zakki P. Hakim talked to Kadin chairman Mohamad S. Hidayat about the event, which would feature China's President Hu Jintao and Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. The following are the excerpts:

Question: What is the purpose of the Business Summit?

Answer: About a month ago, we met with Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda who shared his vision that an ideal Summit should be accompanied by a forum where businesspeople from the two continents can meet so that the summit's result would not be confined only to renewing political solidarity.

The Asia-Africa Conference in 1955 has a history of arousing political solidarity among countries in the two continents, but there has been no real follow-up in the last 50 years. From the eyes of the private sector, the Asia-Africa relationship has been confined to political solidarity, none in the economic sector.

Therefore, a business summit in Jakarta is needed to gather business players from the two continents, for them to meet each other and start opening possibilities for business opportunities.

To attract them, Kadin has invited several heads of government to deliver their keynote speeches at the Business Summit.

We chose, to become speakers, leaders of countries that have been the locomotive of economic growth in the region, like Japan, China, Singapore and Thailand. We also invited the Indian Prime Minister to speak, but unfortunately, due to scheduling problems he could not participate as a speaker.

How would this event benefit the private sector?

The big theme for the business summit is there are sub-themes, which we will discuss in the context of mid- and long-term impact.

We expect the heads of state attending the event to deliver their vision, mission and future prospects of their countries.

Furthermore, we will have panel discussions, followed up by one-on-one business meetings.

At the moment, our trade with African countries has to go through third parties in Europe and Australia.

This event, maybe, can be used to consider opening a pathway for direct trade.

Therefore, the event should be used to identify each other's needs and capabilities and also to seek concrete business deals. This will then need political support from each government on the two continents to facilitate this inter-continental trade.

Even if there are direct trade links, would the limited market size in Africa be worth the trouble, considering the cost of shipping would be about the same as exporting to much bigger markets such as Europe and the U.S.?

It depends on the commodities being traded and export destination countries. Nevertheless, Indonesia should use the event as an opportunity to encourage more exports to Africa, and use Africa as a non-traditional export destination.

For example, we can export more of our textiles and garments to Africa. In return, Africa can export its cotton to Indonesia.

Japan, Malaysia and China have seen and even benefit from the great potential of African countries. Richer nations in Africa, such as South Africa, have expressed interest in establishing cooperation in investment.

Japan, for example, has already been investing in Africa. Malaysia has started to do the same, while it is not the case for Indonesia.

You said the theme of the summit would be "Asia and Africa, Renewing the Spirit of Collaboration." But don't you think that the actual collaboration is not there yet and even still quite far away?

At least in the meantime there is a growing interest between businesses to know each other, as for example, there is a request for Kadin to facilitate a one-on-one meeting from Japan to meet South African businesspeople. That is one example of concrete actions.

Furthermore, Japan, along with China and India, has also asked us to help organize a bilateral trade meeting with Indonesia. The meetings are expected to facilitate private businesses from the three countries to invest in Indonesia. That is good for Indonesia.

I believe Indonesian businesspeople will have bilateral meetings with other countries as well. If not within this week, the contacts they have made during the event would allow them to meet in the near future.

Moreover, we will find a mechanism on how we can follow up this event. Will it be every two years or every four years, we will see.

The minister of foreign affairs suggested having a Business Summit every four years. But considering the potential, it might be necessary to have the event every two years.

Businessmen are pragmatic, if they see the event as merely a ceremonial one, then they would not like to have it too often, so maybe four years would be okay.

Not all countries see the benefit, but some see it, including Indonesia. The country needs new opportunities for export markets, why not have such an event more often then?

We will absorb all aspirations and then put them into a joint declaration that we will issue at the end of the summit.