Investors need more information on East Timor

Investors need more information on East Timor

DILI, East Timor (JP): The government and local administration
need to prepare detailed information on potential businesses that
can be developed by private sector companies in a bid to attract
investors into East Timor, economist Frans Seda says.

Seda said on Sunday evening that many businessmen have failed
to realize the potential of investing in East Timor, a former
Portuguese colony which was integrated into Indonesia in 1976,
due to a lack of information on the profiles of the province's
economic conditions.

Frans, who is also a former minister of finance, was here to
attend a workshop on investment which begun yesterday.

"The central government should help the local authority in
preparing the data needed by investors," he told The Jakarta
Post.

He said that although the decentralization program should
continue, the central government is still required to help the
local authority decide the priority of industries that can be
developed in the province.

"The government, for example, should finance feasibility
studies on businesses which can be developed in the province," he
said.

Seda said he saw that several industries, including garment
manufacturing and tourism, could be appropriate for the province.

However, he admitted that there are a lot of major constraints
for the development of such industries in the province, including
a shortage of qualified human resources.

The former minister said that the local administration should
also improve infrastructure facilities in order to attract
investors.(jac/05)