Govt aims to supply postwar Iraq market

Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia is in a better position than most other countries to supply certain commodities, including food and textiles, to Iraq after the war, given the warm trading relations both countries have enjoyed in the past, several government officials said on Tuesday.

Djasdi Darwis, the chairman of the Indonesian Trade Promotion Center (ITPC) in Dubai, said that prior to the 1991 Gulf War, Indonesia had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for a countertrade, in which Indonesia would import 30,000 barrels of oil per day from Iraq in exchange for commodities such as textiles, timber, tin and crude palm oil.

But the agreement was frozen after the 1991 Gulf War.

"As far as I know, we were the only country having this kind of an agreement with Iraq during those years," he said, adding that Indonesia could ask to reactivate the MOU after the war.

Iraqis still consider Indonesians as friends given Indonesia's opposition to the 1991 Gulf War and the current U.S.-led attacks, he said.

The chairperson of the ministry's National Agency for Export Development (NAFED), Diah Maulida, concurred, saying that the fact that the majority of Indonesians shared a similar religion with most of the Iraqis would also put Indonesia in an advantageous position to compete for the market.

"If, after the war, the embargo on Iraq is lifted then Indonesia has a very good chance of dominating the market with certain commodities.

"For instance, we could supply them with our halal (permitted under Islamic law) food," she said.

Djasdi said most of the projects in rebuilding post-war Iraq would go to companies in the United States and its allies, but the countries would not be able to keep the market to themselves.

Therefore, Indonesia still has a chance to grab a share of the market, he said.

"We must be proactive. Otherwise, other countries will do so and we will get left out," he said.

However, he did not explain how Indonesia could secure some of the rebuilding projects as they will all be reportedly controlled by the U.S. government.

Despite the fact that the war is far from being over, reports have said the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has awarded contracts for the projects to U.S. firms.