Seminar held to woo Thai investors
By Ati Nurbaiti
BANGKOK (JP): Indonesian business entrepreneurs seeking cooperation opportunities in Thailand are not discouraged by Thailand's current economic problems.
Chairman of Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industries Aburizal Bakrie said here yesterday that Thailand's financial problems were only temporary.
"We believe the condition is temporary ... and may recuperate in about six months ... or much faster," Aburizal said after addressing a seminar here on Thai investment opportunities in Indonesia.
He said he was optimistic that the International Monetary Fund's commitment to help solve the Thai financial problems would improve the economy.
Indonesians were keen to share Thailand's skills, for instance in developing agroindustry, he said. "Can we market our durian as well as yours?" he asked, referring to Thai durian which is popular with Indonesians.
Aburizal led a group of 35 Indonesian entrepreneurs at the one-day seminar. Seventy Thai entrepreneurs also participated.
The talks were opened by Minister of Investment/Chairman of the Investment Coordinating Board Sanyoto Sastrowardoyo, and Thailand's secretary-general to the Board of Investment (BOI), Staporn Kavitanon.
The event was organized by Thailand's embassy in Indonesia and its board of investment.
Sanyoto and his delegation, excluding the chamber of commerce members, leave tomorrow for Taipei on a similar mission.
Today Sanyoto and Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh will witness the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Indonesian, Thai and Malaysian companies on producing automobile parts for the Timor national car project in Cikampek, west of Jakarta.
Benny Kurniady of PT Timor Industri Komponen will represent the company that produces the national car and with others from PT Timor Putra Nastional, PT Amalmas Wibawa Agung, Thailand's Oriental Summit Industries and SDN Bhd Malaysia. Oriental Summit will invest $80 million with a 35 percent share, Sanyoto said.
Minister Sanyoto said Indonesia suffered a trade deficit with Thailand of US$4.84 million in 1994, which had reached $34,22 million in 1995.
"Last year this deficit widened to $272.77 million, as a result of exports of $822 million and imports of $1.09 billion," he said. But bilateral trade increased at an average 31.5 percent a year from 1992 to 1996, he said.
He told the forum he had a "fruitful" meeting Monday with Thailand's Minister of Industry and Deputy Prime Minister Korn Dabbarangsi, in which Dabbarangsi said there were only 29 Thai projects in Indonesia, "which were doing quite well". They include the Bangkok Bank and the CP poultry food provider.
Sanyoto said the 29 direct investment projects which include food, chemicals, paper, textiles and metal goods, were worth $2.3 billion up to June this year.
"Although it ranks 14th among all 53 foreign investing countries ... (Thailand) is behind Malaysia which ranked 11th (with total investment of $5.2 billion) and far behind Singapore which ranked 3rd ($17.5 billion)," Sanyoto said.
It is a pity, he told The Jakarta Post, that with so many graduates in agriculture Indonesia's agroindustry was poor compared to Thailand's. In his appeal to Thai investors he said the new ASEAN industrial cooperation scheme entitled companies from participating countries to preferential tariff rates of 0 percent to five percent.
On whether Indonesian red tape deterred Thai investors, Kavitanon and Aburizal separately said that red tape was everywhere -- "but the private sector knows how to deal with red tape," Aburizal said. Investment opportunities would increase with a better knowledge of what was available, he said.
He said the memorandum of understanding signed in May by State Minister of Research and Technology B.J. Habibie and Minister Dabbarangsi to construct a pipeline from the Natuna gas site to Thailand was an interesting project.
Aburizal said Bakrie Steel Industries was working on plans to share swap 10 percent to 15 percent of the company with similar companies in Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia. He declined to give more detail.
"It is the initial step ... the main idea is merging," said Aburizal, who presides over the ASEAN business forum set up in 1991. He said there would be similar possibilities in next five years in the telecommunications and manufacturing sectors.
Indonesian participants in the seminar include Iman Taufik and Mooryati Soedibyo, the president director of PT Mustika Ratu.