Swedish Business Leaders To Visit Indonesia

New York, May 30 (Antara) - Industry Minister MS Hidayat said leading Swedish business leaders will visit Indonesia next month to look for investment opportunities. MS Hidayat, who arrived here on Wednesday afternoon from Stockholm, Sweden, accompanying President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on an overseas trip, said a number of big Swedish companies had expressed strong interest in venturing in Indonesia. Yudhoyono met with a group of around 10 leading Swedish business leaders in Stockholm before leaving that country for New York. There was no concrete deal made in the meeting but a group of chief executives of leading Swedish companies is expected to visit Indonesia in June, Hidayat said. The companies operate in environmentally friendly technology, health equipment, transport, geothermal energy and communications technology industries, he said. Chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) Suryo Bambang Sulistyo said the Indonesian success in maintaining a healthy economic growth amid the global slump had attracted the Swedish business leaders. Suryo said President Yudhoyono told them that the Indonesian government would help if they found hurdles in seeking to invest in Indonesia. He said Kadin also would be ready to lend help such as in seeking local partners. He said Sweden is superior in certain sectors such as in environmentally friendly technology and forestry. The Swedish agreed to transfer their technology if they operate in Indonesia, he said. Yudhoyono told Swedish Prime Minister Fredrick Reinfeldt at a meeting," we could discuss together if any problem with the Indonesian regulations." Data from the Indonesian embassy in Sweden showed that Swedia is Indonesia`s main trading partner in Scandinavia. In the past five years a significant increase of 6.91 percent per year has been recorded in the bilateral trade. In 2012, the bilateral trade was worth US$1.46 billion , up 28 percent from the previous year. Swedish investments in Indonesia were valued at US$5.2 million in 11 projects in 2012, or a four fold increase from the previous year with nine projects. Yudhoyono is the second Indonesian president to visit Sweden after President Soekarno in May 1959.