RI-Netherlands Forum to discuss role of small firms

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesia-Netherlands Forum (FINED), a nongovernmental organization based in Jakarta, and its Dutch counterpart, the Netherlands-Indonesia Forum (FNI), will hold their third annual meeting in Surabaya from Dec. 17 to Dec. 19.

FINED's chief executive Frans Seda said here yesterday the meeting would focus on efforts to help small and medium businesses in both countries.

He said the meeting would be used as a way to exchange experiences and ideas to encourage small business activities between the two countries.

Seda, a former minister of finance, noted that last year FINED sent 20 small-scale entrepreneurs to the Netherlands to join its second meeting in Rotterdam.

"During their visit, the entrepreneurs could see the way small businesses in the Netherlands worked," he said.

Besides discussing ways to promote small businesses, the meeting will discuss various topics such as politics, the economy, education and human resources, social and cultural issues, science and technology and natural resources and ecology.

"The meeting will also focus on water management and business law. The Netherlands is a successful country in managing water resources. We should learn from them," he said.

Seda said the meeting would also discuss ways to improve the implementation of business law, which is considered to be very much needed in Indonesia.

FINED and FNI were established simultaneously in Indonesia and the Netherlands in January 1995.

"The forums are nongovernmental, nonpolitical and nonprofit oriented. They are meant to create a dialog between the two peoples," Seda said.

He said that so far, FINED and FNI are cooperating well in many fields. In the areas of health care, culture and education, the organizations have sent Indonesian nurses to train in Dutch hospitals, built a hospital for the nearly-blind in Bogor, renovated Indonesia's national archive building in Jakarta, and provided scholarships and work training for Indonesian young people in Dutch companies.

According to Seda, trade between the two countries has so far favored Indonesia, which had a trade surplus of US$1.1 billion last year.

Indonesia's exports to the Netherlands reached $1.6 billion last year, with imports valued at $493 million.

Indonesia's main exports to the Netherlands comprise of crude palm oil, garments, palm oil kernel, and copper, while its imports from the Netherlands are pulp and waste paper, agricultural machinery and parts, and paper and paperboard. (gis)