POLISH BUSINESSMEN WISH TO MAKE RI AS THEIR BUSINESS BASIS

Jakarta, Jul 3 (ANTARA) - Several Polish businessmen have started to become interested in making Indonesia as a basis of their business enterprises, Head of the Polish embassy's economic division in Jakarta Damian Irzyk said here Thursday.

"Poland is fully aware that Indonesia is now at the same footing with other potential countries in Asia like Japan, China, and India. Many sectors here can be developed, such as energy and the export of Polish products", he said.

He said that since 2007, there were already several Polish coal processing companies in Kalimantan and Sumatra, and another one was engaged in a study of coal mining sites in Kalimantan with an investment of 500 million to one billion US dollars.

"There will be two others operating in Indonesia this year, but we cannot yet give the details of their lines of business, and their locations," Irzyk said.

He added that Indonesia's economy is quite stable compared to the other countries affected by the impact of the global crisis.

Irzyk also said that Indonesia with its vast territory and very big population is a potential market for Poland's export commodities and products. He also said that the trade between the two countries is still not balanced, as indicated in the fact that Indonesia's exports to Poland in the last two months reached 123 million US dollars, which was ten times bigger than Poland's exports to Indonesia which reached only 10 million US dollars.

"There are still so many export opportunities and prospects which we have to explore in the Indonesian market in the coming years," he said
Poland is the sixth biggest country in Europe, member of both the European Union and NATO, and an important Indonesian partner among the countries in Europe.

The two countries the second biggest bilateral trade volume in Central Europe worth 600 million US dollars last year, he added. Several major Polish investors are currently developing various investment projects in Indonesia, especially in the energy and mining sectors.

In a period of 10 years, the Polish government and parliament had issued various laws as bases for the development of a very highly competitive investment climate.