Malaysia sees future in RI agro-industry
Malaysia sees future in RI agro-industry
JAKARTA (JP): The chairman of the Malaysian Industrial
Development Authority, Tan Sri Zainal Abidin Sulong, said
Malaysian investors saw agro-based industry as one of the most
promising sectors in Indonesia.
Sulong said Indonesia's vast land, abundant supply of labor
and natural resources had attracted many Malaysian investors.
Many Malaysian investors seek business opportunities overseas
as they face labor and land shortages at home, Sulong said here
Thursday at a seminar titled "The Malaysia-Indonesia Partnership.
The Jakarta Dialog"
The sectors Malaysian investors eye in Indonesia are agro-
based industry, forestry-based industry, electronics, textile and
textile products, transportation and finance.
Sulong said Malaysian businessmen see great prospects in palm
oil, tea, rubber, coconut, sago palms, pineapple and banana
plantations.
They also foresaw a bright business outlook for the
cultivation and processing of fruits, vegetables, food crops such
as maize, sweet potatoes, peanuts and soybeans, spices like
cloves, pepper, cinnamon, and dairy cattle.
The Investment Coordinating Board put Malaysia as the 11th
biggest foreign investor in Indonesia with a total of 160
projects worth US$4.2 billion since 1967.
The bulk of Malaysian investment is planned in oil palm
plantations. About 80 percent, or 1.6 million hectares, of the
total area of oil palm plantations being managed or to be
developed by foreign investors is owned by joint ventures
involving Malaysian investors.
Malaysia is the world's largest palm oil producer with an
annual output of more than 7 million tons, followed by Indonesia
in second place with about 4.7 million tons.
However, the Indonesian government decided earlier this month
to impose a temporary freeze on new foreign investments in oil
palm plantations to prevent the industry from being dominated by
foreign companies.
Call
Sulong called on Malaysian labor intensive industrial
companies, especially electronics firms, to consider expanding or
relocating their plants in Indonesia.
Malaysia's Minister of Education Sri Mohd Najib Tun Razak said
Indonesian and Malaysian businesses had the advantage of becoming
good partners due to their proximity and similar culture.
Also, Razak said, there were many areas where both countries
could complement each other.
For example, he said, Indonesia had made progress in aviation
technology, whereas Malaysia just started in aviation. Malaysia
had made significant progress in the automotive industry, in
which Indonesia just started.
Razak said both countries also had opportunity to cooperate in
information technology and human resources development.
President of Malaysia's Asian Strategy and Leadership
Institute, Mirzan Mahathir, the son of Malaysia's prime minister,
said the main obstacle in investing in Indonesia for Malaysian
businesspeople was the difficulty in finding the right partners.
The meeting, which was organized the by Asian Strategy and
Leadership Institute, Malaysian Strategic Research Center and the
Indonesia Forum, drew more than 100 noted Malaysian and
Indonesian businesspeople. (jsk)