Taiwan Invited to Invest in Eastern Indonesia

From: Tempo Interactive

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:The Indonesian government has invited Taiwanese businessmen to invest in eastern Indonesia. Edy Putra Irawady, the Economic Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry, said the competition was not too high in the country’s eastern region, providing more opportunities for Taiwan. “In the western region, we would compete with Singapore, China, and others,” he said during a seminar on Indonesia-Taiwan collaboration yesterday.

To date, many Taiwanese businessmen are investing in the monetary business and real estate in Indonesia. Although it has better technology than its neighboring countries, Taiwan is seen to lack aggressiveness. A Taiwanese company rarely enters the consumers market like electronic products.

Most Taiwanese businessmen enter Indonesia through the conventional channels or label cost. Thus, the government has invited them to invest in eastern Indonesia to give them more space and fewer competitors. Edy also suggested Taiwanese businessmen start building a small-scale economic community before going to larger investments.

Much investment from Taiwan is in metals, rocks and the energy sector. In the future, Edy said, Taiwan would be interested in the fields of energy, mining, manufacturing, and electronic products. One of the places they were invited to invest in was Makassar.

Makassar Mayor Ilham Arief Sirajuddin said Makassar offered much potential for investment. "Makassar wants to establish the region as a Makassar Global City but with local experience,” he said. Makassar is also relatively free from major disasters like tsunamis and volcanic eruptions.

Irwan Omar, a researcher from the Nusantara Financial Consultancy, said Makassar has port facilities with better capacity than even Tanjung Priok port in Jakarta.

KARTIKA CHANDRA

TEMPO/Taiwan Invited to Invest in Eastern Indonesia