RI and Britain inaugurate business council
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia and Britain inaugurated yesterday the Indonesian British Business Council as part of their long-term plan to boost bilateral trade.
The council brings together a number of high ranking Indonesian and British business figures and will be led by Tanri Abeng, chief executive officer of the Bakrie Group, and Alan Jones, the chairman of BICC, whose presence in Indonesia is through both BICC and Balfour Beatty Sakti.
The British minister for trade, Lord Clinton-Davis, said that the council would explore ways to enhance investment relationships and endeavor to foster small and medium enterprise development.
Clinton-Davis said that the British government applauded the positive steps taken by the Indonesian government to address its current economic difficulties.
"Though you are facing a tough test at the moment, I am confident that you will soon resume an upward economic trend," he said.
"The large group of British companies that have chosen to travel with me to Jakarta this week believe the same. That is why they are here."
Trade between the two countries has so far favored Indonesia. Indonesia's export to Britain reached US$ 1.5 billion last year, while imports from the U.K were about $1.3 billion.
According to the Investment Coordinating Board's statistics, Britain is the second largest foreign investor here. The country's investments in Indonesia totaled $3.4 billion in 1996, which consisted of 232 projects.
Investments cover a wide spectrum of industries, including paper, food, hotels and tourism, plantations, nonmetal minerals, electricity, oil and gas, and water.
Coordinating Minister for Production and Distribution Hartarto said in his speech that the presence of a significant number of distinguished British delegations in Jakarta reflected the British government and private sector's continued interest in Indonesia despite the currency crisis.
"Although British investment in Indonesia is considered to be the second biggest, it is however admitted that the cooperation between the two countries still needs to be enhanced, especially at the private sector level," he said.
The first meeting of IBBC will include a series of events to profile UK products and technology, such as the Spotlight UK exhibition which runs from today through Friday at the Shangrila Hotel.
The exhibition will be host to a gala fashion show and a series of seminars on health care, design, oil and gas, and agribusiness to enhance the UK's commercial image in Indonesia. (08)