Dutch chamber team to explore investment possibilities in Maluku

Antara ,  Maluku   |  Wed, 05/14/2008 5:41 PM  |  National

The Dutch Chamber of Commerce and Industry will soon send a team to Maluku to explore investment possibilities in the eastern Indonesian province, Dutch Ambassador to Indonesia Nicolas van Dam said here Wednesday.

"I have visited Maluku four times so far and found that conditions in the province are conducive to investment because the security situation after three years of sectarian conflict has significantly improved," van Dam said.

He said the Maluku provincial administration's efforts to attract foreign investors would be followed by a visit from the Dutch Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the near future.

With unsurpassed underwater natural beauty, Maluku would attract Dutch investors wanting to invest in the province's tourism sector, van Dam said.

He said Dutch investment depended on the outcome of the exploration made by the country's chamber of commerce and the future of security conditions.

Foreign tourist arrivals in Maluku so far have been dominated by visitors from the Netherlands, following a sister-city cooperation agreement between Ambon and Vlisingen.

Van Dam visited Ambon and Banda islands with Singapore Ambassador to Indonesia Ashok Kumar Mispuri and the U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission John A Heffern over the weekend.

Commenting on John A Heffern's visit to Maluku, Governor Karel Albert Ralahalu said the U.S. government would soon revoke its travel warning because security conditions in the province had already improved.

"I have asked John A. Heffern, US Deputy Chief of Mission from the US embassy in Jakarta, to tell the US government about the real conditions in Maluku in the hope that the country will lift
its travel warning," Ralahalu said.

The governor said Heffern had visited Maluku twice following his first visit last January, to observe security conditions in the province.

Heffern has also visited Banda Island, Central Maluku district.(**)

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