'More Australian firms will produce car parts in RI'

'More Australian firms will produce car parts in RI'

JAKARTA (JP): Australian Minister for Industry, Science and
Tourism John Moore is optimistic that more Australian car-
component manufacturers will set up here to support Indonesia's
automotive industry.

Moore, who arrived yesterday, said Australian car-component
producers had the expertise and engineering skills to supply
their products to the country's national car project and other
car projects involving Indonesian companies.

"We have excellent component-makers," he said after meeting
executives of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry
(Kadin) yesterday.

Moore, who will be here until Friday, met Kadin chairman
Aburizal Bakrie and other executives, including the head of
Kadin's industrial division, Fadel Muhammad, and Secretary-
General Sucipto Umar.

Moore will join several Indonesian ministers and other
visiting Australian ministers for a two-day meeting, scheduled to
start tomorrow.

Don Scott-Kemmis, the counselor for industry, science and
technology at the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, said that in the
last 12 months, at least four joint ventures had been discussed
involving the automotive industry. One of them is up and running,
involving BTR of Australia and PT Texmaco.

"The others are still at the stage of finding partners here,"
he told The Jakarta Post.

The government announced a national car policy earlier this
year which allows PT Timor Putra Nasional -- a company controlled
by President Soeharto's youngest son Hutomo Mandala Putra -- to
manufacture a so-called national car under the Timor brand.

According to the policy, at least 60 percent of the Timor car
must consist of local components by the end of its third year of
production.

Timor Putra is developing the car in conjunction with South
Korea's Kia Motors Corp. But because it was too difficult to
manufacture and assemble the cars here, the government allowed
Timor Putra to import the national car, completely assembled,
from South Korea.

Interest

Other car-producers have since expressed interest in building
national cars, although the government has said the policy would
only apply to Timor Putra.

The Bimantara Group wants to turn its Cakra and Nenggala cars
into national cars. The Bakrie Group says the same about its
Bakrie van, and the state-owned Management Board for Strategic
Industries wants its Maleo car to follow the program.

Australia's Millard Design Australia, an automotive-
engineering design company, has helped design and develop the
Maleo car.

Moore said yesterday that Australian car-component
manufacturers would not only focus on the Timor car, because they
wanted to sell to other car manufacturers.

Australian companies are also looking for opportunities in
Indonesia's mining, food-processing, finance and software
industries.

"The new Australian government is keen to make sure that
contacts are followed up... We also wish to expand the progress
that has so far been made," Moore said.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard earlier this year
expected that Indonesia and Australia could double their annual
two-way trade to about US$10 billion by 2000.

Statistics show that Australian exports to Indonesia grew by
over 30 percent in 1995-1996 on the previous fiscal year, while
Indonesia's exports to Australia rose by 27 percent.

Indonesia's trade deficit with Australia increased from US$1.1
billion in 1994 to $1.4 billion last year. In 1995, Indonesia's
exports to Australia were only US$0.4 billion, while its imports
from that country amounted to $1.8 billion.

Trade between the two countries has grown in a number of
areas, including processed food, telecommunications hardware,
computer software, construction material, infrastructure items
and medical equipment.

About 300 Australian companies are currently operating in
Indonesia. Last year, the government approved about $4.5 billion
in new investment proposals by Australian companies. (pwn)