UAE keen to strengthen economic ties with Indonesia: Ambassador

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Sat, 07/28/2007 12:06 PM

Veeramalla Anjaiah, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The oil-rich United Arab Emirates (UAE) is keen to strengthen its economic ties with Indonesia, the UAE's Ambassador to Indonesia Yousif Rashid Alsharhan said in Jakarta.

""Though bilateral trade is growing from year to year impressively, it is still way below the potential of both countries. We would like to increase our trade and investments in Indonesia,"" Ambassador Alsharhan told The Jakarta Post recently in an interview at his office.

Based on figures provided by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), trade between Indonesia and the UAE stood at US$1.41 billion in 2006, up from $1.24 billion in 2005.

Of this, Indonesia's exports to the UAE were valued at $1.06 billion and imports from the UAE at $345.07 million.

According to Alsharhan, Indonesia's primary exports to the UAE consist of textiles, garments, plywood, furniture, electronics and paper. Its imports from the country are, among others, lubricant oil, chemical products, aluminum ore, iron scrap and corn floor.

The Indonesian economy is the largest in Southeast Asia and the UAE economy ranks as the second largest in the Arab region after Saudi Arabia in terms of gross domestic product (GDP).

Thanks to a sustained increase in oil prices since 2001, the UAE's GDP grew to $164 billion in 2006, more than double 2002's total of $74.3 billion.

On the investment side, Alsharhan said there has been improvement since President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's 2006 visit to the UAE and the signing of an agreement to boost economic ties and establish joint ventures by the UAE Federation of Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Indonesia's Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) the same year.

""Several companies from the United Arab Emirates have been present in Indonesia for many years. Just two months ago, our property company Emmar Properties signed a MoU (memorandum of understanding) with Indonesia's Perusahaan Pengelola Aset (PPA) to develop a $2 billion resort project in Lombok,"" Alsharhan said.

He was referring to the Middle East's largest publicly listed property developer, which has investments in countries such as Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Libya and Morocco. The PPA is a state-owned Indonesian asset management company.

The resort project will be developed on 1,200 hectares of land in Central Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara province.

""Emmar will build hotels with modern facilities, including a big golf course, in Lombok. The project will boost the tourism industry there,"" Alsharhan said.

He said more companies from his country wanted to invest in Indonesia, but the investment climate first had to improve.

""Indonesia has huge potential,"" Alsharhan said.

Many foreign investors have been asking the Indonesian government to improve legal certainty and labor and tax laws, as well as cut bureaucratic procedures and corruption. Recently Indonesia passed a new investment law, which was praised by many countries.

Aside from trade and investment, Alsharhan said the UAE -- a regional financial and services hub -- presently employs some 70,000 Indonesian workers.

Comments (0) | Post comment

A | A | A |