Japan, Indonesia businesses to promote information technology

Asian Economic News, June 12, 2000

JAKARTA, June 6 Kyodo

The two leading business groups from Japan and Indonesia agreed Tuesday to bolster cooperation in information technology and narrow the digital divide between the two countries.

A 70-strong delegation from Japan's Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren) also agreed in a meeting in Jakarta with the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry to encourage more Japanese private investment in Indonesia, Keidanren officials said.

The Japanese side told the Indonesian business leaders that Japanese investors are reluctant to invest in Indonesia in view of unsettled debts owed by Indonesian companies as well as a lack of clear legal protection for foreign investment.

The two sides also discussed the role of the Japanese yen in regional trade, with the Japanese business leaders urging their Indonesian counterparts to increase the use of the yen in their transactions with Japan.

The Indonesians suggested that Japanese businesses should take the lead in making the yen an international currency, arguing that Japan itself does not appear to have much confidence in its own currency.

Seventy executives from some 40 Japanese companies -- including those from the trading, banking and electric machinery sectors -- took part in the annual meeting between Keidanren and the Indonesian business group. Indonesia was represented by 80 business executives.