REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut Binsar Panjaitan offered an investment opportunity in its sea territory to Chinese businessmen at a Business Forum in Hangzhou Saturday.

"There are around seven square kilometers of sea baseline in Indonesia that has not been exploited. There is a lot of economic potential here," he said in a press statement.

Investors could put their capital in the seaweed processing industry as well as the fishery industry, he said.

Some regions in the Indonesian eastern part such as Kupang, Dompu, Merauke and Ambon have big sea potential, he said.

"There is around US$42 billion of economic potential that could be exploited from the fishery industry alone and therefore we are expecting your presence in Indonesia to invest in the field. We have oil and also gas in the sea. Certainly we will provide the best business climate for you," he told the forum.

Besides fishery potential, Luhut also quoted shipbuilding as a business opportunity including port development and ship manufacturing.

The government is now pushing for domestic production of ships and has improved a number of ports in the country including increasing their capacity to smooth loading and unloading as well as export-import activities as well as the quality of cranes, he said.

"Most of our ports have depths of nine to ten meters. We are now improving it so that big ships can enter the ports. I think the area is very interesting for investors," he said.

Improvement in the economic and political condition in the country has helped support the investment climate in the country, Luhut said.

After suffering a decline in 2011 Indonesia's economy started to show improvement in the third quarter last year.

"Last year our economy grew 4,7 percent, and in the first quarter this year it had grown 5,15 percent," he said.

"Based on a seven-yearly cycle prediction Indonesia was to suffer a decline now but it did not happen, and so we believe in the next seven years the situation will continue to improve and become even better," Luhut added.

The political situation was stable because the government and the parliament could cooperate, Luhut, who is a former coordinating minister for political, security and legal affairs, said. The security situation especially with regard to terrorism threats could be overcome because Indonesia now has a database that could be used to prevent terrorist attacks more optimally, he added.

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