Soeharto supports establishment of German Center
Soeharto supports establishment of German Center
JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto approved yesterday Germany's
plan to establish a center here with the aim of promoting
investment by small- and middle-sized German companies in
Indonesia.
"We are glad with the support of the President," the minister-
president of the German state of Baden-Wurtemberg, Erwin Teufel,
told reporters after meeting with Soeharto at the Bina Graha
presidential office here yesterday.
Teufel, who arrived here on Sunday for a five-day visit, is
leading a delegation of 31 business executives, six government
officials, five professors and six journalists to promote German
investment in Indonesia.
Teufel explained that the center, to be called German House,
will provide information for German investors on business
possibilities in Indonesia.
Many small and medium-scale businesses in Germany hesitate to
invest in Indonesia because of a lack of information, although
many of them believe that the market situation in Indonesia is
good, said Teufel, who was accompanied by Coordinating Minister
for Industry and Trade Hartarto in yesterday's meeting with
Soeharto.
Teufel said the center was not intended for large companies
because they were already capable of developing business
relationships with their Indonesian counterparts.
On Monday, State Minister of Investment Sanyoto Sastrowardoyo
told reporters after meeting with the German delegation that a
number of its members were interested in making investments in
the pharmaceutical, chemical, steel and automotive industries.
He said that they were not interested only in building
assembly plants, but were also keen to establish manufacturing
facilities in those sectors.
Focus
Teufel said yesterday that the delegation's members would
focus their investments in three main sectors:
telecommunications, energy and ports, especially the construction
of container terminals.
"The president welcomed our intention to construct a container
terminal in Indonesia but, of course, we will take part in a
tender for it," he said.
Teufel acknowledged that his country's investment in Indonesia
was currently small in comparison with its investment in eastern
Europe, including the former East Germany.
Germany presently ranks tenth among all foreign investors in
Indonesia, with a total investment of US$4.8 billion in 80
projects. The two-way trade between the two countries for the
period between April 1994 and February 1995 reached $3.5 billion,
with a US$1.1 billion surplus for Germany.
After visiting Indonesia, Teufel is scheduled to inaugurate a
German center in Singapore.
He said at a luncheon meeting with the Indonesian-German
Economic Association here yesterday that Germany had established
a similar center in Yokohama, Japan, and would be setting up
others in Seoul, South Korea, Hanoi, Vietnam and Beijing, China.
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