NZ continues to promote ASEAN business links
JAKARTA (JP): The New Zealand government will continue to promote business links with ASEAN countries through its Trade and Investment Promotion Program, the program's manager Charles Wood told reporters yesterday.
The program was founded in 1991 to promote business cooperation between New Zealand and ASEAN countries. The program was scheduled to end in 1995, but the New Zealand government has decided to extend it by several years.
The program handles several promotions including the Food and Packaging Technology Expo to be held in Wellington in early October.
"Three business people from each ASEAN country will be invited to visit the exhibition," he said.
The program will also run a series of environmental engineering missions starting early next year. The missions are designed to give ASEAN business people a chance to see New Zealand's expertise in waste management, water treatment and air pollution.
Wood said a study in 1994 had identified several areas of New Zealand expertise that could be offered to the seven ASEAN countries.
These included human resource development and education; food and agribusiness; infrastructure, utilities and communications; environmental technology, engineering and services; applied technology and science, research and development; and forestry.
Wood said the main obstacle that New Zealand businessmen encountered when investing in Indonesia was their unfamiliarity of the people they were doing business with.
Trade growth
New Zealand and Indonesia bilateral trade has grown significantly since 1990. According to data from the New Zealand embassy, New Zealand's exports to Indonesia in 1995 were worth NZ$302.5 million, a 23 percent increase on the previous year's value and a 118 percent increase on 1989's value.
Its top five exports were pulp (NZ$91 million), dairy products (NZ$73 million) bones and bone cores (NZ$25 million), meat (NZ$23 million), and aluminum (NZ$20 million).
New Zealand's imports from Indonesia in 1995 exceeded NZ$260 million, an increase of 84 percent on 1994.
The top imports last year were mineral fuels (NZ$115 million), paper and paper board (NZ$24 million), coffee, tea and spices (NZ$12 million), footwear (NZ$11 million), electrical machinery and equipment (NZ$10 million).
New Zealand's trade in services with Indonesia, especially in education and tourism, has grown tremendously. About 1,200 Indonesians entered New Zealand to study last year, a 300 percent increase from three years ago. About 30,000 New Zealand tourists visited Indonesia last year, while some 12,000 Indonesian tourists visited New Zealand.
New Zealand investments licensed by the Indonesian Investment Coordinating Board over the last 28 years have accumulated to NZ$35.4 million. This does not include investment from New Zealand companies via Australian holding companies or the planned NZ$690 million to be invested by the New Zealand consortium (Brierley's, Southpac and Design Power) with President Soeharto's youngest son, Hutomo Mandala Putra, to build a geothermal station in Central Java.
According to data from the embassy, Indonesian businessmen have so far invested NZ$140 million in tourism and forestry in New Zealand through nominee companies in Hong Kong and Singapore. (jsk)