Consortium needed to enter Europe

Consortium needed to enter Europe

JAKARTA (JP): An Indonesian-Netherlands consortium should be set up to make the most of the opportunities and facilities offered by the Netherlands for Indonesian exports to the European market, according to a prominent Indonesian entrepreneur.

Tanri Abeng, president of Bakrie & Brothers, a business group controlled by Aburizal Bakrie, told a seminar on "Trade and Investment Opportunities in the Netherlands" here on Wednesday that such a consortium would be able to use seaports in the Netherlands as a gateway to the European market.

The seminar, organized by Moret Ernst & Young, ABN-AMRO Bank and the Indonesian Netherlands Association, was attended by Indonesian and Dutch businessmen and officials.

"What we really need is a business entity, not an association," Tanri said, suggesting that the Indonesian companies which would join the consortium would be those which are market oriented.

He said many Indonesian companies were still family-managed, so that business decisions are made by one person and business strategy is often based on lobbying.

However, he said that an increasing number of Indonesian companies were now being professionally managed with global business vision.

He said that the Netherlands offered a number of business facilities, including strategic seaports and efficient distribution networks that could be used as the beach-head to enter the European market.

He said that the Bakrie & Brothers business group would be the first to seize on the opportunity by establishing a joint venture in warehousing.(32)