Qatar and Indonesia in $1bn deal
Shame on the Indonesian government for selling orphaned orangutans to Qatar in a deal which will bring Qatar’s petrodollars to Borneo to create more palm oil plantations and hasten the destruction of untold acres of rainforest… George W. Bush would be proud! SHAME! SHAME! SHAME! ~ Rich
By Arvind Nair
QATAR has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Indonesian government to float a joint investment company with a capital of $1bn in Indonesia.
Of the $1bn capital, Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) contributes 85% and the rest by the Indonesian government, Indonesian Ambassador Rozy Munir told Gulf Times on the eve of his country’s 62nd Independence Day.
The joint investment company will focus on the development of energy sectors, power plants and infrastructures in Indonesia. Both sides have already taken preliminary steps and discussed details in order to implement the MoU, Munir revealed.
The ambassador expected Qatari investment in Indonesia to increase significantly in the near future.
In June, Indonesian lawmakers had passed bills on Islamic banking and Shariah-compliant Bonds (Sukuk). “This is aimed to attracting funds from the Middle East investors including Qatar to develop costly infrastructure projects in Indonesia.”
The two countries, he said, had been enjoying “mutually fruitful and beneficial relations on investment and trade sectors.”
Since the embassy was officially opened in Qatar in 1999, relations and co-operation in trade and investment had steadily shown an upward trend.
“However, the total value of bilateral investment and trade are still far from our expectation,” the ambassador said.
He said Indonesia viewed Qatar as a strategic partner in investment and trade co-operation.
“Recently, a number of dignitaries and businessmen from Indonesia visited Qatar to explore opportunities to expand and widen the relations.”
Subsequently, some Qatari companies had been holding independent talks with Indonesian firms to finalise deals, he added.
Asked if Qatar had approached Indonesia to invest in farmland projects, the ambassador said “there are great opportunities for a possible investment in this sector. Indonesia is a big country and is gifted with a huge farmland. But unfortunately, in some areas, these farmlands are under-developed because of lack of investment.”
He hoped Qatar would follow the example of Saudi Arabia, which recently announced its plans to investment in farming projects in Indonesia. But, he added that investments could be made not just for rice but to cultivate other produce like cocoa, sugarcanes, palm oil and spices.
Munir said there were several pending drafts of agreement between the two countries and it “becomes one of the Indonesian embassy’s top priorities to finalise them. Of course, there are still lots of things to be done by the two sides.”
Since the increase of investment and trade co-operation was the target, it was expected that the two countries could sign several agreements, he said. “Among others are agreement on bilateral consultation of the two foreign ministries, on economic and technical co-operation and on the employment of Indonesian nurses.”
Indonesia offered a number of incentives to foreign investors, the ambassador pointed out. They covered “import duties, tax facilities, export manufacturing and bonded zones.”
Meanwhile, Munir said, talks by officials in Qatar and Indonesia were underway to place Indonesian animals in Doha Zoo. Qatar liked to have a number of animals including komodo, a giant lizard found only in Indonesia, orangutan and chimpanzees.
But these were on the protected list and there were so many formalities to be completed like a reciprocity. It was possible that Qatar would probably “borrow” these animals for breeding and then return them to Indonesia later.
If it happened Indonesia would have to send trainers too, Munir added.
Asked about the Qtel-Indosat row, the ambassador said, “to be frank, I wish this matter to be solved wisely very soon by both parties. I think we are complimentary. On one side, Indonesia is looking for foreign investment, while on the other side, Qtel aims to expand its business.”
August 18th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
What a sad sad state of affairs when Indonesia doesn’t care enough about it’s wildlife to try and find ways to improve their economy without destroying the very habitat that is home to so many species. It’s heartbreaking to know that orangutans, so close to humans and so close to extinctionmay be gone from the wild in just a few years. The Eden that Indonesia used to be is being destroyed palm oil plantation by palm oil plantation. How very very sad.