Singapore, RI seek opportunities

Singapore, RI seek opportunities

Bloomberg, Singapore

Singapore and Indonesia, whose bilateral trade increased 17 percent to US$10 billion in the first half, should seek partnerships in areas such as oil and tourism, Singapore's Trade Minister Lim Hng Kiang said.

Singapore, a regional center for oil rig construction, petroleum refinery and oil trading, should seek opportunities in Indonesia, which has the world's 16th-largest proven oil reserves, Lim said.

The city-state could also channel tourists to Indonesian resort islands such as Bali, he added.

"By leveraging on each other's economic resources and connectivity to mutual benefit, Indonesia and Singapore can put in place a virtuous cycle of economic prosperity which can transform both countries into a global economic force," Lim said on Friday at a forum in Singapore where Indonesian Trade Minister Mari Pangestu also spoke.

Singapore is improving ties with trading partners to grow its economy beyond a limited domestic market of 4 million people.

For Indonesia, a Singapore tie-up could give it access to 7,000 multinational companies on the island-state and help it secure the $150 billion it needs invested in power plants and other infrastructure projects over the next five years to spur economic growth and create more jobs.

Indonesia wants to revive foreign investment that slumped to $10.3 billion in 2004, a quarter of the amount it got in 1995 before the Asian financial crisis.

The country, which is Southeast Asia's largest economy, supplies gas to Singapore and exports its oil to the island-state for refining.

Singapore, which builds 80 percent of the world's oil rigs and is the third-largest oil refining and petrochemical center globally, is seeking opportunities for Indonesia's more than 7 trillion barrels of oil that may be increased with improved technology, Lim said.

He also added that oil trading companies generated $100 billion of oil trades yearly from the city-state.

The Indonesian government forecasts gross domestic product will expand at about 6 percent this year.

Indonesia's economy expanded 6.35 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier as exports of minerals doubled and companies such as PT Telekomunikasi Selular raised investment to expand capacity.

The economy grew 5.1 percent in 2004, the most in eight years.