China vows to facilitate trade with RI

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)