Chinese investment 'may reach $3b this year'
Chinese investment 'may reach $3b this year'
Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
In line with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's visit to China
last month to boost bilateral trade and investment between the
two countries, Chinese businesses investment this year has been
estimated to reach some US$3 billion.
An executive with the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and
Industry (Kadin)'s Chinese Committee, Mohammad Toha, said on
Monday that in this year's first semester, Chinese investment had
reached about $1 billion.
"We have estimated that the investment will grow to some $3
billion this year," he said after accompanying executives from
China National Machinery & Equipment Import Export Corp. (CMEC)
to visit Vice President Jusuf Kalla.
Most of the businessmen are engaged in the energy sector, he
added.
According to Toha, total Chinese investment in Indonesia has
reached over $6 billion -- mostly in the infrastructure, energy,
agriculture and food sectors. The figure represented an over 21-
fold increase compared to six years ago.
During his visit to China, Susilo and Chinese President Hu
Jintao had pledged to triple bilateral trade to $30 billion over
the next five years.
China is Indonesia's fourth biggest export destination. Last
year's total bilateral trade amounted to over US$8.7 billion,
with an annual growth of 18.6 percent in the last five years.
In the first three months of 2005, total trade between the two
countries reached $2.7 billion, up 43.4 percent from the
corresponding period last year.
Elsewhere, Toha said that during a discussion with Vice
President Kalla, CMEC had conveyed its interest to participate in
the government-sponsored infrastructure projects this year,
including the construction of toll roads, bridges, railways and
ports.
"CMEC plans to invest in Indonesia soon. However, they could
not disclose the amount of the investment yet as they are still
conducting several feasibility studies for certain projects," he
said.
CMEC is one of China's largest state companies engaging in the
machinery and infrastructure sector with annual sales worth more
than $15 billion.