U.S.-RI businessmen meet to step up dialogs
U.S.-RI businessmen meet to step up dialogs
JAKARTA (JP): American and Indonesian businessmen have started what they hope will escalate into a more vigorous process of meaningful dialogs about the directions of their future ties.
Tony Agus Ardie, host of the meeting on Monday evening, stressed the importance of such frank, open dialogs because, he said, it is the private sector that will be responsible for realizing the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) vision of free and open trade and investment by the year 2020.
"We gather this evening to start answering the question as to how the vision will be realized," Tony said, referring to the Bogor Declaration of the APEC leaders last November on free trade and investment in the region.
The meeting, attended by approximately 50 businessmen, was part of a series of business talks held in connection with the three-day visit of 20 U.S. businessmen organized by the U.S.- Association of Southeast Asian Nations Council.
Robert E. Driscoll, President of the council, acknowledged that the private sector so far has not been very aggressive in expanding economic relationships between the two countries.
Driscoll hopes that the meeting will kick off a more vigorous process of continuous communications between the private sectors of both countries.
Indonesian Trade Minister Satrio B. Joedono, who also attended the meeting, agreed on the importance of such dialogs especially because APEC leaders will adopt the blue print of the region's free trade and investment in their summit in Osaka, Japan next November.
"I should point out that free trade is by no means a zero-sum game but a win-win situation," Joedono said.
Adjustment
Indonesia, he added, has started the process of adjustment to enter free and open trade and investment and it is also essential for the private sectors to keep their process of dialogs going on.
William C. Lane, an executive of Caterpillar Inc., concurred, pointing out that even the American public has yet to be educated about what free trade is.
The American people are often much more concerned about their health care, crime rate and the baseball strike than about the impact of free trade.
"Moreover, the Congress, now controlled by the Republicans, tends to be inward looking," Lane added.
Lane said the U.S. Congress would place a greater emphasis on reducing the budget deficit rather than on international issues such as free trade.
"So I think the issues that link trade with human rights, workers rights and environments will move from the front burner to the back burner," the Caterpillar executive observed.
Commenting on the prospects of U.S.-Indonesian economic ties, Tony Agus Ardie, Chairman of the U.S. Committee of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, foresees a brighter outlook for expansion as the private sectors of both countries are intensifying their dialogs.
"My committee, for example, will follow up this dialog with a big business mission to several U.S. cities within the next few months," Tony said. Tony is also Chairman of the Indokor business group.
Attractive
James Castle, an American business consultant based in Jakarta, and James Riady, President of Lippo, Indonesia's largest financial service group, defended Indonesia's record as one of the most attractive places for foreign investments in Asia.
"That can be seen from the two-and-a-half fold increase in the value of new foreign investment commitments licensed last year," Castle, President of Business Advisory Strategies, said.
Riady said that reading newspaper stories might create the impression that the Indonesian government was inconsistent with its economic reform measures.
"But judging by the broader picture, the government has been mostly consistent, as proven by the ongoing process of its deregulation," Riady added.
He said that even though China offers great investment opportunities, Indonesia remains a much more excellent proposition for investments.
Riady, whose Lippo group is also investing a great deal in China, cited several Indonesian advantages which do not exist in China: A much larger middle-income group, a more modern banking system, free foreign exchange regime and a larger pool of managerial talent.(vin)