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)

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