JEDDAH, 29 September 2004 — Indonesia has offered its expertise in construction services to the Kingdom.
“We are aware that Saudi Arabia needs expertise from abroad in this area, specifically construction and maintenance of factories, underground storage tanks, pipelines, roads and bridges, dams, and telephone and power lines,” said Minister of Industry and Trade Rini M. Sumarno Soewandi. “Indonesian and Saudi business people can work together in this field,” she added.
Soewandi, who is leading a 54-member delegation to the Kingdom, was addressing a seminar on trade and investment opportunities between Saudi Arabia and Indonesia here yesterday. The delegation comprises 20 government officials, and 34 business people, of which 15 are women.
The minister said last year bilateral trade reached $1.9 billion. Indonesia’s exports to the Kingdom amounted to $400 million, while its imports from the Kingdom totaled $1.5 billion.
“We currently export more than 150 types of products to Saudi Arabia, from plywood, garments and textiles to paperboard, radio broadcast receivers, home appliances, and electrical machinery,” she said.
Imports from Saudi to Indonesia include oil — 87.5 percent — chemical products, phenols, hydrocarbon, printed matter, polymers of ethylene, and industrial alcohol.
Since 1993, Indonesia has had trade deficit with Saudi Arabia; in 1999 it reached $574 million and last year it was $1 billion.
“We need to work very closely together to increase our bilateral trade, especially import/export in non-oil products,” she said, and added, “Indonesia and Saudi Arabia can further enhance potential business and investment relations.”
She invited Saudi business people to visit the 19th National Merchandize and Commodity Show (Resource Indonesia 2004) to be held in Jakarta from Oct. 13-17. “The annual event is the biggest Indonesian export exhibition,” she said.
Stressing that foreign direct investments (FDIs) play an important role in the process of economic development of emerging market countries like Indonesia, Soewandi said the government continuously revised its investment policy to attract FDIs. She went on to brief the large gathering of Saudi businessmen on Indonesia’s existing policy on FDIs in several key areas.
She noted that the priority sectors were labor-intensive industries like textiles and garments, agricultural production and processing, automotive and electronics parts and components.
After the seminar, Indonesian businessmen and businesswomen had separate one-to-one meetings with their counterparts.
Earlier, the minister met Dr. Ahmad Muhammad Ali, president of Islamic Development Bank. Later, she left for Madinah to visit the Prophet’s Mosque.
