RI offers engineering services to OIC

RI offers engineering services to OIC

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia asked Islamic countries yesterday to
use its design and engineering skills to promote intra-Islamic
trade and investment.

Coordinating Minister for Production and Distribution Hartarto
Sastrosoenarto said that most Islamic countries relied on
developed countries for their design and engineering jobs,
including civil works.

"President Soeharto offered the other members of the
Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) Indonesia's design and
engineering services, which are 30 percent cheaper than those
offered by developed countries," Hartarto told journalists after
accompanying President Soeharto in a meeting with representatives
of the Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

He said that Indonesia had long developed the necessary design
and engineering software for a range of works, including the
construction of fertilizer, cement, steel, paper and
petrochemical plants.

"Their (Islamic countries) orientation is still on Europe...
However, there is an agreement among member countries to use the
potential offered by Indonesia and other OIC members," Hartarto
said.

Yesterday afternoon, Hartarto officially closed the week-long
meeting of the Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Industry and
Islamic businesspeople. The meeting took place in Bandung, West
Java, and in Jakarta.

Projects

Islamic businesspeople from 47 OIC member and seven non-member
countries at the meeting identified 75 projects worth US$554
million in 13 OIC countries.

They included processed food, leather, textile, chemical,
cement, petrochemical, fertilizer, pharmaceutical, engineering
and metal work projects.

The Islamic Development Bank, an OIC affiliate, has agreed in
principle to provide finance, training and technical assistance
for feasibility studies on approximately 25 projects in Chad,
Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Pakistan, Sierra Leone and Turkey.

"This is the first time this has happened in this kind of
meeting, and I hope other financial institutions, either Islamic
or non-Islamic, do the same, to provide financial assistance to
the other 50 projects," Secretary-General of the Islamic Chamber
of Commerce Aqeel A. Al-Jassem said.

The meeting produced the 18-point Bandung Economic
Declaration, which called for the promotion of intra-Islamic
trade and investment.

The declaration called on OIC countries to reduce import
tariffs and other trade barriers, and expedite the implementation
of a trade preferential system to promote intra-Islamic trade.

It also requested OIC countries to adopt a visa-free policy
for Islamic entrepreneurs and other flexible policies to help
businesspeople and capital move more easily.

It called on OIC governments to create a favorable economic
environment for trade and investment.

On investment, it said industrial joint ventures should be
established by businesses in OIC countries.

"I assure you that you have strong Indonesian support to
improve trade and investment among OIC member countries,"
Hartarto said at the closing ceremony.

The chamber of commerce and the Islamic businesspeople agreed
to see if it was possible to establish an international Islamic
Village in Indonesia to promote cultural understanding among
Islamic countries. The planned Islamic Village would be similar
to the Indonesia in Miniature Park (Taman Mini Indonesia Indah)
in East Jakarta. (rid)

Editorial -- Page 4