"Many Chinese investors are interested to invest their money in various sectors in Indonesia namely in infrastructure, manufacture, mineral and plantation. I believe that in five to ten years to come, Chinese entrepreneurs will have more confident on investing their money abroad especially in Indonesia," said the ambassador.
He explained though having a tremendous amount of trade with Indonesia, the number of Chinese investment in the country during the past years was not very impressive if compare to other countries` such as the United Kingdom, Japan or South Korea.
"This condition is understandable since it was not until ten years ago that the Chinese investors start thinking about investing their money abroad. Investment is a long term policy, therefore our entrepreneurs need more time to study about the potentials that Indonesia has," said the ambassador.
Earlier representative from the Indonesian Young Entrepreneurs Association (HIPMI) expressed hope China will balance its huge volume of trade with Indonesia with more investments in priority sectors.
"We hope they will bring in more investments to Indonesia especially for infrastructure as they have the capacity for it," HIPMI general chairman Erwin Aksa said.
He said additional investment in the infrastructure sector including logistical facilities is needed to increase efficiency in production and competitiveness of Indonesia`s domestic industrial products.
Other sector needing more investment from partners like China is processing industry, he said.
"So far we have been exporting a lot of natural resource-based products such as raw materials. We hope they would not only see Indonesia as an exporter of raw materials but also as an attractive country for investment in value-added producing industries," he said.
He said HIPMI had proposed to the government to give the incentive needed to attract Chinese investors to invest more capital in the country.
According to HIPMI records in 2010 Chinese investment in the country was only recorded at US$173 million or the 11th biggest.
Ideally, he said, as a country that supplies a lot of goods to Indonesia Chinese should minimally be the fifth biggest investor.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2012
