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)