International networking called for

International networking called for

JAKARTA (JP): Indigenous businessmen should employ the international networking of Chinese, Japanese, European and American entrepreneurs to better make their way into foreign markets, a local businessman said Saturday.

"They are currently in control of the world economy. It is such networking rather than the governments that will have more say in the economy," chairman of the Association of Indonesian Indigenous Businessmen (HIPPI), Iman Taufik, said at a seminar on domestic businesses.

He said that in order to compete with international networks, indigenous businessmen need to improve the skills of their staffs, work hard and eliminate elements of the high cost economy from their business sectors.

To narrow the widening gap between indigenous and non- indigenous businessmen, the government should also play a key role in creating conducive conditions for both of them to grow, he said.

"In this case, the government should take sides with the indigenous businessmen by, for example, making it easy for them to get credit. The government design regulations to protect the interests of small and medium-scale businessmen so that they will not be edged out by their bigger competitors," he said. (13)