Seminar held to woo Thai investors

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.