Dorodjatun vows to improve RI-U.S. business ties
JAKARTA (JP): Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti, Indonesia's newly appointed ambassador to the United States said Saturday that improving bilateral economic relations was one of his main priorities.
Speaking at a business luncheon hosted by the U.S. Committee of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), Dorodjatun said that promoting business relationships between the two countries was of utmost importance in the current situation.
Dorodjatun, who was sworn in by President Soeharto last month to replace Arifin Siregar, said the other priorities would include cultural and political relations.
"My main agenda is to improve not only business and economic ties but all sectors, including the political ties," the former dean of the economics department of the University of Indonesia said while promising that he would try to become a good public relations officer for Indonesia.
According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, total U.S. cumulative investment in Indonesia stood at US$8.68 billion in July 1997 with 271 projects. The value of U.S. investments approved by the Indonesian government dropped to $642 million in 1996 from $2.77 billion in 1995.
The value of Indonesia's exports to the United States totaled $5.28 billion in the first nine months of last year. In 1996, the country's total exports to the U.S. rose to $6.79 billion from $6.32 billion in 1995.
Indonesia's imports from the U.S. were $4.18 billion from January to September last year. In 1996, the country's imports from the U.S. rose to $5.05 billion from $4.75 billion in 1995.
Dorodjatun said business and political ties between Indonesia and the United States had been growing very well but added that despite the good relationship there was a strong need for him to explain more about Indonesia's role in the global market.
The Unites States, for example, needed to know that Indonesia played a very significant role in enhancing global trade activities through sea transportation, he said, citing that four Indonesian straits -- Sunda, Lombok, Wetar and Ombay -- were on the routes of about 40 percent of the world's transportation activities.
"Unfortunately, the United States has not realized this," he said.
The Sunda Strait lies between Java and Sumatra, the Lombok Strait between Bali and Lombok, while the Wetar and Ombay Straits are in East Nusa Tenggara province.
"So it is part of my to job to explain this to the United States," he said.
Dorodjatun, however, said that the currency turmoil, which has seen the rupiah's value against the U.S. dollar decline by about 70 percent since early July, could make his job more difficult.
The crisis has forced many Indonesian companies to close down overseas offices, such as those in the United States.
"This will pose a difficulty for me because I will have little direct access to Indonesian companies operating in the United States," he said.
The chairman of Kadin's U.S. Committee, Toni Agus Ardy, said few Indonesian companies could maintain their overseas offices in the current circumstances.
"It is just bad (luck) that we have to close down our overseas offices as part of cost-cutting measures during this crisis," he said. (aly)