Local traders recruited in bid to strengthen ties with Beijing
JAKARTA (JP): While expecting an increase in trade ties with Beijing and other cities in China, the Jakarta chapter of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin Jaya) will invite traders from Glodok and Mangga Dua in West Jakarta to take part in a series of business trips to the world's most populated country.
"We'll invite the Glodok and Mangga Dua traders to take part in our upcoming trips to Beijing and other Chinese cities," Kadin Jaya's chairman Pungky Bambang Purwadi said on Saturday.
Glodok and Mangga Dua subdistricts are homes to thousands of Chinese Indonesians, mostly traders of various kinds of goods and services. Both are part of Jakarta's Chinatown, located in downtown Kota in West Jakarta.
Pungky said Kadin Jaya, which had set up business ties with the chambers of commerce in the cities of Beijing, Foshan and Hubei since 1990, was planning to improve its trade relations by sending a Jakarta business delegation every two months.
Pungky expected that the business delegations would make full use of the great business opportunities in China, with such a huge market potential of more than 1 billion people, especially in Beijing and other big cities in China.
Besides the West Jakarta traders, Kadin Jaya would also invite cooperatives to join the delegations, he said.
Head of Kadin Jaya's China Relations commission Johan Susanto said the West Jakarta traders were expected to become importers of China's goods, such as light machinery and equipment.
"I'm sure that they have already established trade ties with China, but we'll improve upon them," he said.
He said that with the strengthening of business relations, Chinese businesspeople would directly invest here, a move that would make their goods become competitive.
Meanwhile, the cooperatives were expected to export raw materials, such as food, consumers goods, cement and fertilizers which were needed by China, Johan said.
Hopes
Pungky said improved trade ties with China would expectedly bring home some US$80 billion in funds owned by Chinese Indonesian businessmen and currently parked overseas.
"I heard that some $20 billion of the funds have returned to the country following the improving security and political stability under the leadership of President Abdurrahman Wahid," he said.
He predicted that some $40 billion, which fled the country after mass riots in May last year, would also return to the country following the improvements in the political and economic situation.
He admitted that the plan to increase trade ties with China was inspired by President Abdurrahman's earlier statement that he would increase ties with China.
Pungky expressed hope that members of Kadin Jaya could be included in President Abdurrahman's delegation in a visit to China in the future.
The trade figures between China and Indonesia amounted to a total of $962.19 million in the first three months of this year, showing a 25% increase in the same period of last year which reached $766.52 million.
Indonesia's exports to China reached $676.99 million from January to March this year, while the country' imports from China totaled $234,23 million in the same period this year. (jun)