Indonesian businessmen are lazy: Ambassador
Indonesian businessmen are lazy: Ambassador
By T. Sima Gunawan
ISTANBUL, Turkey (JP): Indonesian Ambassador to Turkey
Soelarso blasted private companies for their paltry efforts in
exploring the huge trade opportunities in this country.
"We, from the embassy, are ready to help, but it seems that
they (businesspeople) can't be bothered to seek market
opportunities here," he told Indonesian journalists here Sunday.
He said that there are huge trade opportunities in Turkey,
especially because it is the gateway to other countries in the
Middle East, Central Asia and Europe.
Many Turkish businesspeople have expressed interest in
establishing economic cooperation with Indonesians, but there has
been no positive response from Indonesian businesses, he said.
He said he had also invited the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce
and Industry (Kadin) several times to come to Turkey to discuss
trade. "But they did not even answer my invitation," he said.
Soelarso promised that the embassy would do its best to help
Indonesian businesses, especially medium-scale ones, who want to
do business in Turkey.
"Give us some work," he said.
According to Soelarso, other Indonesian embassies, including
the one in Nairobi, share the opinion that Indonesian businesses
should make more effort to explore business opportunities abroad.
In 1994, Indonesia's exports to Turkey reached US$40 million,
which sharply increased to $132 million the following year.
Indonesia's imports from Turkey in 1995 were recorded at $32
million.
The main commodities exported to Turkey are textiles, rubber,
cooking oil, yarns, synthetic fibers and chemicals.
Des Alwi, the second secretary of the embassy, said that in
1994, Turkey was hit by an acute economic crisis. The inflation
was as high as 146 percent and it had no access to the
international market.
In April 1995, the government subsidized the Turkish lira
against American dollars in order to cope with the inflation. As
a result, the country's import capability increased. This
explains why Indonesia's exports to Turkey increased sharply last
year, Alwi said.
Aircraft
Soelarso said that starting from July 1995, Turkey imported
spare parts of CN-235 aircraft from PT Industri Pesawat Terbang
Nusantara (IPTN) in Bandung, Indonesia.
"Turkey imported the spare parts from Indonesia after
realizing that the character of "N" in CN-235 stood for
Nusantara," Soelarso said.
According to Soelarso, Turkey operates more than 20 CN-235
aircraft, which it bought from Casa of Spain.
CN-235 aircraft are jointly produced by IPTN and Casa, each of
which is allowed to sell them and their parts.
Minister for Research and Technology B.J. Habibie acknowledged
last year that IPTN failed to sell its CN-235s to Turkey in the
1980s because it could not provide export loans for its sales.
Turkey, therefore, procured the airplanes from Casa, which was
supported with export loans.
"It's too bad that our marketing is weak. We can make the
aircraft but we can't sell them," Soelarso said Sunday.
He said that IPTN learned that Turkey assembled CN-235 from
Indonesian Armed Forces Commander Gen. Feisal Tanjung after he
visited that country.
In 1994 Minister Habibie went to Turkey to promote the
aircraft produced by IPTN. "But it was too late," Soelarso said.