ID :
48649
Tue, 03/03/2009 - 11:03
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/48649
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LACK OF PROMOTION CAUSES LITTLE MIDEAST INVESTMENT IN RI : MINISTER
Jakarta, March 2 (ANTARA) - Middle Eastern investment in Indonesia has remained low because Indonesia is not being promoted enough in the Middle East, State Enterprises Minister Sofyan Djalil said.
"We are still underpromoted in the Middle East so that only few investors from the region know Indonesia and its huge investment potentials," Djalil said here Monday.
Speaking at press conference on the 5th World Islamic Economic Forum going on here, Djalil said a Middle Eastern investor told him over lunch earlier in the day that Indonesia was little or almost not known in his country.
To illustrate his point, the Middle Eastern investor said that when he was preparing to take his fligt to Jakarta, his wife asked him "what for?", indicating her ignorance about Indonesia.
But not long after he had arrived in Jakarta, the Middle Eastern businessmen called his wife and asked her to come to Jakara telling her that "shopping malls here are not second to those in the US or Europe."
"So, this little story shows that people in the Middle East really do not know much about Indonesia," the minister who is vice chair of the World Islamic Economic Forum said.
He therefore hoped the holding of the World Islamic Economic Forum in Jakarta would enable Middle Eastern investors to know Indonesia better and make them interested in investing in the country.
Djalil hoped the forum would not only lead to the conclusion of investment cooperation agreements but also the implementation of the accords.
Another vice chair of the meeting, Tanri Abeng, shared Djalil's view that Indonesia was being insufficiently promoted in the Middle East. Therefore, the forum's organizers would take the opportunity of the presence of Middle Eastern businessmen at the forum to promote Indonesia.
"At the end of the meeting on March 4, we will stage an exhibition on Indonesia to promote all of the country's potentials. The forum is a good opportunity, because it is being attended by more delegates than the previous forum in Malaysia and more than hall of them are from the Middle East," Abeng said.
The greater number of delegates also meant that Middle Eastern investors had begun to become more interested in Indonesia, he said. "Never before has the number of delegates to the forum exceeded one thousand," he said.
He said now was the opportunity for Indonesia to attract foreign investors. "They used to look to the US and Europe attracted by investment opportunities in the financial sector but now that the West is in crisis they turn to the East," he said.
He said investment in Eastern countries would not be the same as in the West. "In Eastern countries, investment will go more into the real sector while in the West it was more in the financial sector. This means an opportunity for us as we have a huge investment potential in the real sector," he said.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Ibrahim E Patel, said the forum in Jakarta as an important opportunity for investors to know more about Moslem countries.
"Here we will formulate substantive platforms that stress cooperation among partners. We know that trade knows no geographic, political, religious or racial boundaries," he said.
"We are still underpromoted in the Middle East so that only few investors from the region know Indonesia and its huge investment potentials," Djalil said here Monday.
Speaking at press conference on the 5th World Islamic Economic Forum going on here, Djalil said a Middle Eastern investor told him over lunch earlier in the day that Indonesia was little or almost not known in his country.
To illustrate his point, the Middle Eastern investor said that when he was preparing to take his fligt to Jakarta, his wife asked him "what for?", indicating her ignorance about Indonesia.
But not long after he had arrived in Jakarta, the Middle Eastern businessmen called his wife and asked her to come to Jakara telling her that "shopping malls here are not second to those in the US or Europe."
"So, this little story shows that people in the Middle East really do not know much about Indonesia," the minister who is vice chair of the World Islamic Economic Forum said.
He therefore hoped the holding of the World Islamic Economic Forum in Jakarta would enable Middle Eastern investors to know Indonesia better and make them interested in investing in the country.
Djalil hoped the forum would not only lead to the conclusion of investment cooperation agreements but also the implementation of the accords.
Another vice chair of the meeting, Tanri Abeng, shared Djalil's view that Indonesia was being insufficiently promoted in the Middle East. Therefore, the forum's organizers would take the opportunity of the presence of Middle Eastern businessmen at the forum to promote Indonesia.
"At the end of the meeting on March 4, we will stage an exhibition on Indonesia to promote all of the country's potentials. The forum is a good opportunity, because it is being attended by more delegates than the previous forum in Malaysia and more than hall of them are from the Middle East," Abeng said.
The greater number of delegates also meant that Middle Eastern investors had begun to become more interested in Indonesia, he said. "Never before has the number of delegates to the forum exceeded one thousand," he said.
He said now was the opportunity for Indonesia to attract foreign investors. "They used to look to the US and Europe attracted by investment opportunities in the financial sector but now that the West is in crisis they turn to the East," he said.
He said investment in Eastern countries would not be the same as in the West. "In Eastern countries, investment will go more into the real sector while in the West it was more in the financial sector. This means an opportunity for us as we have a huge investment potential in the real sector," he said.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Ibrahim E Patel, said the forum in Jakarta as an important opportunity for investors to know more about Moslem countries.
"Here we will formulate substantive platforms that stress cooperation among partners. We know that trade knows no geographic, political, religious or racial boundaries," he said.
