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)