Denpasar, Bali (ANTARA News) - Egyptian businessmen Omar Tosson and Ahmed Omar Tosson, who are interested in investing in agribusiness, visited Indonesia for eight days to hold a number of meetings and check potential locations.

Indonesian Ambassador to Egypt Helmy Fauzi explained that the owners of Damco company were interested in developing the agro-industry sector, especially fruit and vegetable farming.

In addition to targeting the domestic market, the agricultural products will also be for export to the Middle East markets.

"So, a visit to Indonesia is more to finalize the exploration of the investment business, leasing agricultural land and plantations including the opening of export-import companies," said Ambassador Helmy at the Indonesian Embassy in Cairo, in a statement on Sunday.

Omar Tosson and Ahmed Omar Tosson are entrepreneurs engaged in property. At present, the Tosson family has five companies engaged in property development, including Technology Mall and El Sallab Mall in Nasr City. He also won a number of tenders for modern market development projects in a number of places in Egypt.

Ambassador Helmy welcomed the wishes of Omar and Ahmed Tosson to invest in Indonesia. To that end, it facilitated a number of meetings with related parties such as the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), PT Perkebunan Nusantara III, PT Perkebunan Nusantara VIII, and PT Perusahaan Perdagangan Indonesia (PPI), to get a complete picture of investment in Indonesia.

The Indonesian Embassy in Cairo also arranged meetings for them with officials of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM), the Directorate General of National Export Development of the Ministry of Trade, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"In addition to getting information about investment, we hope they can directly meet potential credible partners," said Ambassador Helmy.

Furthermore, the Ambassador hopes that this business trip can be immediately followed up. He explained, the investment model in Indonesia that the Tosson family wanted was to establish a company through the use of a 10,000-hectare land with the B.O.T (Build-Operate-Transfer) system. For this reason, Ambassador Helmy suggested that this investment project be started by utilizing 1,000 hectares of land first.

"In order for the project to be economical in terms of financing, the project should also utilize existing local experts and resources," Ambassador Helmy suggested.

In the notes of the Indonesian Embassy in Cairo, during the period of January-September 2018, the value of realization of Egyptian investment in Indonesia amounted to 640,900 US dollars for six projects. Meanwhile, in the period of January-December 2017, the value of Egyptian investment in Indonesia reached 822,700 US dollars divided into 13 projects.

Meanwhile, for Indonesia, Egypt is one of the target countries for outward investment. The total value of Indonesian investment in Egypt running until 2018, reaches 122 million US dollars.

Reporting by Adi Lazuardi, Eliswan Azly

Reporter: Antara
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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