Govt and 'IHT' to hold Indonesia Summit
Govt and 'IHT' to hold Indonesia Summit
JAKARTA (JP): The government, in cooperation with the American daily International Herald Tribune, will hold an Indonesia Summit from May 13-14 next year, featuring foreign and domestic government officials and private sector leaders as speakers.
The event, which will be opened by President Soeharto, is expected to be an interactive forum between decision makers from local and foreign governments as well as the private sector.
Coordinating Minister for Industry and Trade Hartarto told reporters here yesterday that the forum will discuss market liberalization in line with commitments from the Uruguay Round of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade negotiations, the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) agreement and the action agenda of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, under the AFTA agreement, is committed to liberalizing trade among its members by the year 2003, while APEC will liberalize trade and investment by 2010 for its developed member economies and by 2020 for its developing members.
"Through the event, we will encourage more synergies of both multinational and other companies to invest in Indonesia," Hartarto said.
"There is a great chance for Indonesia to be the manufacturing base of overseas companies for the sales of their products in the ASEAN and the Asia-Pacific region," he said.
In addition to industrial opportunities, Indonesia also offers private firms the possibility to get involved with infrastructure projects.
Participants in the two-day summit will have the opportunity to analyze the prospects of the Indonesian economy and how they can take part in it, he said.
Meeting
Meanwhile, the IHT's chief executive and publisher, Richard McClean, said that the Indonesia Summit was planned after he met with Hartarto in Beijing last April.
Hartarto was a keynote speaker at the IHT's second annual "summit", where he invited the IHT to work with the Indonesian government on an Indonesia Summit.
Asked about the government's efforts to minimize illegal levies, about which many business groups complain, Hartarto said: "We are very cautious about a high-cost economy. We are going to announce the next deregulation package soon to help reduce the high-cost economy. So just be patient."
He said the government has launched a series of deregulatory measures to make the economy more efficient and to attract more foreign investments into the country.
The Investment Coordinating Board has approved an increasing number of investment commitments, though the implementation of the commitments is still low.
State Minister of Investment/Chairman of the Investment Coordinating Board Sanyoto Sastrowardoyo said yesterday that since 1967 to Nov. 15 this year, nearly US$130.8 billion in foreign investment committments have been approved. However, only 51.3 percent of the commitments have been implemented. (icn)