RI-Thai fishery firms to cooperate

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Fishery Companies Association is now exploring opportunities for cooperation in the fishery business with Thai entrepreneurs to boost fish exports in the future, a prominent business leader says.

"We have received warm responses from Thai businessmen for possible cooperation in the fishery business, including fish netting operations and the processing and marketing of fish- related products, during our meeting with executives of the industry in Bangkok," the chairman of the association, Sudwikatmono, told Antara news agency in Bangkok over the weekend.

Some of them have even agreed to relocate their processing plants to Indonesia in response to the association's demand for investments in the country, he said.

He told Thai fishery business executives that the planned relocation of their industrial activities in Indonesia will benefit them because Indonesia has a large work force and labor costs are relatively lower than in Thailand.

"Labor costs for the Thai fishery industry is about five times of that in Indonesia," he added.

In turn, cooperation will also benefit the Indonesian industry because Thailand has sophisticated technology in the processing of fish, he said.

Thailand, which established its fishery industry long ago, has also broader access to the international market through its existing marketing channels, he said.

"We can tap their channels for the marketing of our products," he added. (fhp)