Middle Eastern countries 'committed to helping Indonesia'
Middle Eastern countries 'committed to helping Indonesia'
JAKARTA (JP): A number of Middle Eastern countries have given
commitments to help Indonesia's economic recovery and are ready
to invest in the country, Minister of Foreign Affairs Alwi Shihab
said on Wednesday.
He said Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Oman had made concrete plans
for new investments in the oil, petrochemical and fishery
sectors.
"The government of Kuwait, for example, says it will inject
some US$30 million for an oil and gas exploration project on
Seram island in Maluku," Alwi was quoted by Antara news agency as
saying after a meeting between President Abdurrahman Wahid and
ministers from the three Arab countries.
Kuwait Minister of Foreign Affairs Sulemen Al-Shaheen, Oman
Minister of Trade and Industry Maqbool Ali Sultan and Saudi
Arabia Minister of Industry and Electricity Hashim Yamani met
with the President in separate sessions. They are in Jakarta to
attend the Ministers Meeting on Investment in Indonesia, jointly
held by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and state investment bank
Danareksa.
Alwi said the government of Kuwait had committed to gradually
increase its investment in the three-year oil and gas project on
Seram island to $170 million.
He said Kuwait also planned to invest in other feasible
projects.
Saudi Arabia says it will find investment opportunities in the
oil and petrochemical sectors, while Oman is eying the fishery
and oil field sectors, he added.
Delegations of ministers, fund managers and businesspeople
from Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Iran, Qatar, the United
Arab Emirates and Bahrain, as well as Singapore, Brunei and
Malaysia, are currently in the capital attending a meeting on
investment opportunities in the country.
At the meeting, the government, through the Indonesian Bank
Restructuring Agency (IBRA), is offering delegates the
opportunity to purchase assets and companies currently under
IBRA's supervision, including such assets of the Salim Group as
Wisma BCA, a mosquito coil factory, retail chain Indo Marco, a
palm oil plantation, Bintan Resort, a sugar refinery, a coal mine
plant and private television station Indosiar.
The delegates are also being invited to invest in PT Aneka
Tambang, PT Bukit Asam Batubara, PT Perkebunan Nusantara IV, PT
Gajah Tunggal Tire, PT Indosat, PT Jasa Marga, PT Merpati
Nusantara Airlines, PT Angkasa Pura and PT Pelabuhan Indonesia
II, which are on the government's list for immediate
privatization. (cst)