Jimbaran Group welcomes new partnership body

Jimbaran Group welcomes new partnership body

JAKARTA (JP): Sudwikatmono, a Jimbaran Group founder, welcomed
yesterday the establishment of the Coordinating Board for the
Implementation of National Business Partnership Program.

"The formation of the new group will reduce our responsibility
to help the government eradicate poverty," he said in Surabaya.

A task force, representing 79 big local businesses, agreed
Thursday to set up an organization to develop partnerships with
small businesses and cooperatives in a similar arrangement to the
Jimbaran Group.

The Jimbaran Group comprises 48 tycoons who agreed at a
meeting in Jimbaran, Bali, in early 1995 to help the government
eradicate poverty through partnerships with small business.

The group began helping cooperatives and small businesses last
year, and has spent about Rp 2.1 trillion (US$905.1 million) on
partnership programs with about 900,000 small businesses.

Sudwikatmono said the country's 30 million small businesses
would have to wait a long time to join the Jimbaran Group's
program.

"The establishment of the new partnership body indicates its
members' willingness to follow the Jimbaran Group in expediting
the partnership scheme," he was reported by Antara as saying.

Asked whether the new group would merge with the Jimbaran
Group, he said, "It's up to the government. But if it decided to
merge the two groups, the Jimbaran Group was ready," he said.

He said the Jimbaran Group was doing well with 80 percent of
its program realized. (bnt)