French business delegation gets to see Indonesia firsthand

Debbie A. Lubis, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

After a three-day business visit to Indonesia, a delegation of French businessmen concluded that Indonesia is not as bad as it is depicted in the foreign press, and that the country would remain attractive to foreign investors.

Head of the French business delegation Phillipe Louis Dreyfus said that, while Indonesia was facing various problems, he was convinced that the government could resolve them to create a conducive atmosphere for investment.

"The reality is Indonesia is working," Dreyfus told reporters late on Wednesday on the sidelines of a function held at the French ambassador's residence.

Around 32 executives from 21 prominent companies in France operating in the banking sector, oil, gas, shipping, telecommunications, as well as consultancies, visited Indonesia this week.

The business executives met with President Megawati Soekarnoputri, senior government officials, legislators, members of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KADIN) and several local business associations.

"It is the right time to do more business in Indonesia and we hope we will find the ideal climate," Dreyfus said.

He said that what French businesses needed was not investment incentives but primarily security guarantees and legal certainty when operating businesses here.

French businesses, according to Dreyfus, are interested in investing in joint venture scheme in sectors like agriculture, oil and gas, commodity trading, shipping, telecommunications, finance and banking, hotel and infrastructure construction.

He declined to provide investment target figures.

"In business you have targets but you do not express it freely because international business is very difficult to achieve," he said.

He also said that French companies were not newcomers in Indonesia because there are already names like supermarket Carrefour, oil and gas company TotalfinaElf, carmaker Renault, and mineral water bottler Danone, which have been operating in the country for a few years.

France ranked 17th in terms of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Indonesia with approved FDI of around US$10.5 million between January and July, 2001.