Govt urged to focus on economic issues at APEC
Govt urged to focus on economic issues at APEC
Adianto P.Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The government should take advantage of this week's Asia
Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) gathering in Shanghai to help
rebuild foreign investors' confidence in the ailing economy,
economists said.
Sri Adiningsih of Gadjah Mada University said on Tuesday that
the government should explain to the international community the
various economic policies being taken to rehabilitate the
economy, and measures to guarantee a stable security and
political condition.
"The government should use this opportunity to explain its
economic policies and the real situation in Indonesia to APEC
members," Sri told The Jakarta Post.
Sri said that the APEC economies are both potential investors
and markets for the Indonesian economy.
Top officials of the 21-member nations of APEC will meet on
Oct. 20-21 in the industrial and trade center of China to further
discuss efforts to speed up the trade and investment
liberalization agenda agreed under the so-named Bogor goals.
The Bogor goals, named after the Indonesian hill resort where
APEC leaders met in 1994, commit the 21 APEC economies to free
trade and investment in the Asia Pacific region by 2010 for
developed countries, and by 2020 for developing countries.
But there have been fears that the U.S. would try to drive the
APEC leaders to be more focused on efforts to fight terrorism.
President Megawati Soekarnoputri will take part in this
meeting.
"Indonesia needs international support to put the economy back
on its feet again," Sri said.
Foreign investors have been discouraged from entering the
country due to a combination of domestic security and economic
problems.
The grim world economic outlook is also creating new
uncertainty for the prospects of the country's economic recovery
process.
While the government has forecast that the economy would grow
by 3.5 percent this year and 4 percent next year, some analysts
doubt this, as the world economic slump will hit hard the
country's export sector.
But Finance Minister Boediono said on Tuesday that Indonesia's
economy should be less vulnerable to the world economic slowdown
as the country's non-oil and gas export products were basically
lower valued-added products, such as agricultural commodities.
Boediono was also confident that domestic consumption would
help the economy to grow by 4 percent next year, as targeted by
the government.
Meanwhile, Pande Raja Silalahi, economist of the Centre for
Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) expressed concern that
the APEC gathering would be more focused on the political issue
of the fight against global terrorism following the Sept.11
terrorist attacks on the U.S.
Pande called on the government to avoid being absorbed by
sensitive political issues, and to focus its attention on the
economic ones.