Delegation prepares for U.S. confidence building mission

JAKARTA (JP): A business team of 23 top exporters and 10 government officials is scheduled to leave here Thursday for the United States on a mission to restore American buyers' confidence in Indonesia as a reliable and competitive supplier of various industrial goods.

The businessmen, led by industry and trade minister Rahardi Ramelan and several other key government officials, will meet with businessmen and officials in Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and New York during the three-day visit.

"The United States, the world's largest economy, is one of our largest markets. But American businesspeople have been worried about the latest situation in Indonesia after the series of mass riots," Anton Supit, chairman of the Indonesian Footwear Association, said on Tuesday.

Anton, a member of the mission, stressed the team would work to convince U.S buyers that Indonesian exporters are reliable and competitive suppliers of a wide range of industrial products.

"We will not touch security or politics, as that is the government's job," he told reporters after a meeting with Rahardi.

The team will meet with buyers of footwear, textiles, garments, electronic goods, fish and agricultural commodities, Anton said.

Foreign orders for Indonesian goods have been declining as importers have worried about delivery schedules as a result of the seemingly endless bout of riots in the country.

"The business team will be able to accomplish its mission only if law and order is fully restored and trade financing is secured," he said.

Industrialists who depend largely on imported materials have been encountering difficulties in securing letters of credit as most of the banks in the country have collapsed.

Other members of the business delegation to the U.S. include Sunjoto Tanudjaja, the president of garment producer PT Great River, M. Manimaren, the director of the garment division of the Texmaco Group and Tony Agus Ardie, chairman of the United States Committee of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Rahardi will be accompanied by Bank Indonesia Director Dono Iskandar, Indonesia's business envoy to the U.S. Suryo Sulisto, Director General of International Industry and Trade Cooperation Institutions Hartanto Reksodiputro, and head of the board of the National Agency for Export Development Gusmardi Bustamil.

Minister Rahardi will proceed to Jamaica to attend the G-15 developing nations summit on Feb. 10 to 12. (das)