China vows to facilitate trade with RI

JAKARTA (JP): Visiting Chinese vice president Hu Jintao promised here on Monday to help improve bilateral trade with Indonesia.

"We welcome investment in China by Indonesian entrepreneurs and we also encourage qualified Chinese businesses to invest and open businesses in Indonesia," Hu told a luncheon with the Indonesian business community.

In a bid to encourage Chinese citizens to travel to Indonesia the Chinese government had agreed to name Indonesia as one of its recommended tourist destinations, Hu said.

Indonesia and China signed in July a Memorandum of Understanding to boost both countries' tourism sectors.

Hu said that in order to revive trade with Indonesia, the Bank of China was preparing to reopen its branch in Indonesia, which was closed years ago.

"The Chinese government is still waiting for the green light from the Indonesian government for the reopening of the bank," he said.

Hu added bilateral trade with Indonesia had been growing quite well recently.

The value of the two countries' bilateral in the first five months of this year alone totaled US$2.83 billion, up 65 percent from the same period last year, he said.

"We expect to see our bilateral trade with Indonesia further develop this year to break the record," Hu said without giving any figures.

Indonesia and China resumed diplomatic relations in 1990 after they had been broken off in 1967, following an abortive communist coup which Indonesia at the time claimed involved China.

During his courtesy call on Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri on Monday morning, Hu witnessed the signing of a bilateral agreement concerning mutual legal assistance in criminal matters.

He said the agreement was a follow-up to talks last year between President Abdurrahman Wahid and Chinese president Jiang Zhemin.

During the business luncheon, Hu also encouraged Indonesian companies to take part in a new liquefied natural gas pilot project to be set up in Guangdong province.

"We hope Indonesian firms can also compete (in the tender for the project)," he said.

Indonesia is currently preparing to participate in a tender to supply China with 3 million tons of liquefied natural gas from its Tangguh gas field in Irian Jaya.

Hu, however, said that due to the discovery of potential new reserves of liquefied natural gas in the Shin Jiang area, it was unlikely that China would import the commodity in large volumes from overseas, including Indonesia.

Chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Trade (KADIN), Aburizal Bakrie, said bilateral trade between Indonesia and China had really shown a positive trend in the last couple of years.

However, there are still some obstacles, including those concerning payment methods, delivery and pricing, he said.

Aburizal said many local companies had slammed Chinese companies for practicing dumping in the case of some products, including shoes.

No statement, however, has been made by the Chinese authorities on the matter, he said.

Hu is scheduled to leave the country on Tuesday.

Hu said China also planned to further open its domestic market for foreign products by cutting import tariffs, easing its investment regulations and creating more transparent laws and regulations. (cst)