European business called on to invest more in RI hi-tech
European business called on to invest more in RI hi-tech
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Industry and Trade Tunky Ariwibowo
called on European business yesterday to invest more in high
technology industry in Indonesia.
Tunky said Indonesia would prefer foreign investment to be in
high technology because it would add value to the country's
economy through the transfer of technology and improvement in
human resources.
Tunky said investment in high technology industries would
increase people's welfare and make Indonesia a stronger market
for European products.
"It would make us rich so that we become a strong market for
you," he told an Asia-Europe Business Conference.
The three-day conference, which drew 400 top executives from
25 Asian and European countries, ends today.
Conference speakers included executive director of Singapore's
Asia-Europe Foundation, Tommy T.B. Koh; director of Jardine
Matheson Holdings and National Westminster Bank of Britain, Sir
Charles Powell KCMG; honorary chairman of Total and CNPF
International of France, Francois-Xavier Ortoli; president
director of Texmaco Group of Indonesia, Marimutu Sinivasan;
chairman of Akzo-Nobel NV of the Netherlands Cees J.A. van Leede
and executive vice president of Marubeni Corporation of Japan,
Hiroshi Matsumura.
"The government will continue to maintain transparency and
consistency in its economic policy as well as providing level
ground to attract investors," he said about suggestions that
Indonesia should improve these areas if it wanted to attract more
investors.
Economic ties
Koh said the world was being driven by three approximately
equal regional economies: North America, Western Europe and East
Asia.
Economic ties between East Asia and North America and between
Western Europe and North America have been developed, but ties
between East Asia and Western Europe were still weak, he said.
Koh said European companies were less active in Asia because
they lacked knowledge of Asian markets and business cultures, and
because there was a lack of transparency and clear, stable,
regulatory frameworks.
Asian companies, on the other hand, were reluctant to invest
in Europe -- except for Britain, Ireland and to a certain extent,
the Netherlands -- because they perceived Europe as having
negative elements including labor inflexibility and high unit
production cost, he said.
Koh called for Asian countries to remove excessive regulations
and develop transparency, and on European countries improve their
understanding of Asian cultures.
Powell, Britain's former foreign affairs and defense advisor
during the tenures of Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and John
Major, acknowledged that Europe was lagging behind in trade and
investment in Asia.
He said each European government needed to designate a
minister with specific responsibility for Asia in order to
improve European image and performance in the region.
Powell said European business should focus on the business
sectors of the future, particularly information technology, which
would help Asia achieve quality growth as well as quantity
growth.
Powell asked big European companies to help small and medium
enterprises enter Asian markets, and called on Asian countries to
treat European companies as equal to local companies. (jsk)