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)