S'pore PM to lead trade mission to RI in January

JAKARTA (JP): Singapore's Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong will lead a large trade mission to Indonesia in January in a bid to boost trade relations between the neighboring countries.

Indonesian Ambassador to Singapore Luhut Panjaitan said here on Tuesday that the Singaporean trade delegation would focus on tourism and labor-intensive industries.

"Prime Minister Goh told me in a recent discussion that Singapore was interested in doing business in the nonpolluting and labor intensive industries in Indonesia," he said in his speech at a business luncheon sponsored by the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin).

Luhut said Goh expressed interest in maintaining and adding Singaporean businesses on Batam, Bintan and Karimun islands, some 30 kilometers from the island state.

Singapore's new investments in the islands will be directed to general industries such as electronics and textiles, chemicals, engineering and shipyard services, Luhut said in quoting Goh's recent comments to him.

"Prime Minister Goh told me he planned to double the number of employees in Batam Island from the existing 90,000 to 200,000 in one to two years time."

For tourist ventures, Singapore is interested in all provinces in the country except the well-developed resort island of Bali, Luhut said.

"Prime Minister Goh is also eying the provinces of Riau, West Sumatra, North Sumatra and West Kalimantan to help supply Singapore's needed agroindustry products."

Luhut noted Singapore's need for natural gas from Indonesia's Natuna and Asam Mera fields.

Kadin's vice president Iman Taufik predicted Singaporean investment in the country would easily increase between US$5 billion and $6 billion within two to three years after the trade mission.

The total cumulative investment of Singaporean business in the country stood at some $21 billion, ranking third after Hong Kong and Japan in the top 10 list of investors, Iman said.

"Singaporean businesspeople did not stop investing in Indonesia even in the middle of the economic crisis over the past two years."

Iman discounted media reports that the sizable capital flight from Indonesia during the crisis benefited Singapore.

He noted the issue was a sensitive one for Singapore's government and Indonesia should strive to avoid its discussion.

"The issue could only burden trade relations between the two countries rather than improve them."

He said the important point was to improve investment conditions in the country to ensure the return of funds transferred overseas.

It is also important to end distinctions made between indigenous businesspeople and the ethnic Chinese, he added.

Luhut recommended that Kadin include a significant number of Chinese-Indonesians in its membership.

"The ethnic Chinese, besides being good business players, are the third largest group in Indonesia after the Javanese and Sundanese," Luhut said. (udi)