Hartarto woos Indian businessmen

Hartarto woos Indian businessmen

NEW DELHI (Reuter): Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for Production and Distribution Hartarto urged Indian businessmen yesterday to invest in his country.

"There will be growing opportunities to invest in the markets of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) region," Hartarto told a business seminar in the Indian capital. "India and Indonesia must make the synergies stronger."

India was given full dialog status with ASEAN last July. ASEAN groups Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam.

Hartarto invited Indian businessmen to invest in capital goods, mining, infrastructure and services such as tourism.

"The economies of India and Indonesia are at such levels of growth that we can become strong partners," said A.S. Kasliwal, president of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

Bilateral trade between India and Indonesia stood at $1.13 billion in 1995/96 (April-March) compared with $600 million in the previous year, a FICCI statement said.

Hartarto said he expected the two nations to seize opportunities to expand bilateral trade, pushing it to between $3 billion and $5 billion in coming years.

About 30 Indian companies have already set up joint ventures in steel, textiles and other industries in Indonesia, industry officials said.

"We also encourage more Indonesian businessmen to have ventures in India, to take advantage of India's growing economy," Hartarto said.

He praised India's economic reforms program and policy measures taken to boost economic growth.

India began liberalizing its economy in 1991 under former prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, opening up trade and industry and dismantling decades of socialist controls.