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.