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)