Delegation prepares for U.S. confidence building mission

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)