Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) head Franky Sibarani said with regard to renewable energy, Belgium was interested in investing in the development of wind energy, while in the maritime sector it wanted to invest in the shipping industry and fisheries.

In tourism, the Belgian business community would like to develop hotels in Indonesia’s main tourist destinations, he said.

The BKPM said Belgium was the fifth-largest investor in Indonesia among EU members.

“The BKPM recorded US$ 132 million in investment between 2010 and 2015, not including in the upstream oil and gas and financial sectors,” said Franky after an inaugural event of the Belgium-Indonesia technology partnership in Jakarta on Monday.

Belgian investors, he added, had been supporting industrialization in Indonesia, as well as the transfer of knowledge and technology from generating power to producing chocolate. “We have also learned how to create jobs, especially at plantations, hotel and restaurants,” Franky added.

Princess Astrid of Belgium, as a representative of her brother, King Philip, heads the fifth economic mission to Indonesia from March 12 to March 19, aimed at strengthening economic cooperation between the two countries.

During the visit, Franky said, Astrid hoped the Indonesian government would guide Belgian investors in the investment process and facilitate in terms of fiscal incentives.

“There are several investors in clean energy that want to be facilitated because they are very serious about investing in Indonesia and they want to understand the regulations,” he mentioned.

Indonesia Benelux Chamber of Commerce (INA) director Elmar Bouma said Belgians were often reluctant to do business in Indonesia due to the economic climate, especially for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

“What they asked for is a stable legal framework to maintain their business in the country,” Bouma said.

Belgium is the sixth-largest importer of Indonesian commodities in the EU. In 2014, Belgian exports to Indonesia included chemical products, machinery, equipment and animal products.

According to Belgian Ambassador to Indonesia Patrick Herman, the economic mission comprises 301 participants from 127 Belgian companies and four trade promotion bodies. “This is the largest Belgian mission to Indonesia in decades,” he said.

During the economic mission, Belgian companies and authorities will sign 25 contracts with their Indonesian counterparts.

The 31-year-old man, who declined to be named, said he was thankful to be given a second chance and a job instead of being handed over to the police after last Wednesday’s incident.

He said he stole some food stuff worth 27 ringgit (US$6.50) from the Tesco hypermarket in Alma because his children were hungry and he did not have any money.

“I had quit my job as a contract worker after my wife fell into a coma during a birth complication last week. She is still warded at the Bukit Mertajam hospital,” said the man whose family is from Kuala Nerang, Kedah.

He is currently putting up at a relative’s house in Alma. He said he was walking to his relative’s house after visiting his wife at the hospital with his two-year-old son when they passed Tesco at about 6pm.

“After walking for more than an hour, we went to the food section and I grabbed the pears, apples and a few bottles of drinks,” he said, adding he was caught on the way out.

The store’s general manager Radzuan Ma’asan, who interrogated the man, decided to take a different approach in dealing with the crime.

Warning him never to steal again, he offered the man a job at the store.

“The man’s situation really touched our hearts. We visited his relative’s house. It was so empty and poor,” he said yesterday.

Radzuan said his staff visited the man’s wife who is now out of coma. The baby however did not survive the birth complication.

Radzuan said the store had yet to decide what type of job to offer the man. “He was not a regular thief. When we questioned him, he immediately confessed, saying that he stole the fruits and drinks because his son was hungry.

“In my 23 years of experience in the retail line, I had never come across thieves who admitted their act so easily. Most would give all kinds of reasons. He also told us that he was unable to work as he has to look after his three children, aged two to seven.

“So, we decided not to lodge a police report as this was a genuine case of extreme poverty.

“For now, our priority is to ensure that he enrols his seven-year-old son in a school,” said Radzuan, who handed the man cash to cover his current expenses.

According to statistics provided by Vietnam’s Foreign Investment Agency, Singapore-based firms implemented 30 new projects and increased investment levels in six existing projects in the first two months of 2016. Total investment in newly-registered projects, and additional capitalisation of existing ones, reached $470 million.

To date, Singapore has invested in nearly 1,570 projects in Vietnam, ranking third out of 112 countries and territories investing in Vietnam.

The average capital investment per Singaporean project in Vietnam is $23 million, which is much higher than the average foreign investment of $14 million per project.

In the processing and manufacturing sector, Singaporean firms have invested a total of $15.6 billion in 480 projects, accounting for 43 percent of Singapore’s total investment in Vietnam.

Singaporean capital is also invested in real estate ($11 billion), entertainment ($1.8 billion), construction ($1.7 billion) transportation and storage ($1.4 billion).

HCM City is an attractive destination for Singaporean investors, who funded nearly 780 projects there with $9.6 billion. These investments account for 50 per cent of the total projects in HCM City and 27 per cent of Singapore’s total investments in Vietnam.

About 74 per cent of total Singaporean investment in Vietnam is in the form of wholly foreign-owned projects. There are 1,163 such foreign-owned projects, worth a total of $23.4 billion. The rest of Singaporean investment in Vietnam exists in the form of joint ventures, such as joint stock companies and business cooperation contracts.

Co-operation in seaport industry

Singapore also expects to further co-operation with Vietnam in maritime services and sea ports, Singaporean Ambassador to Vietnam Ng Tech Hean said in a meeting with Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Hong Truong in Ha Noi last week.

The ambassador has witnessed development co-operation between Vietnam and Singapore during his term of office. During his service in Vietnam, the ambassador has tracked privitisation of State-controlled businesses in Vietnam.

Singaporean businesses have invested in many big projects, including Cái Mép – Thi Vai and Sai Gon Port. Singaporean businesses expect to be given further information about the privitisation process of the Vietnam National Shipping Lines (Vinalines), according to Hean.

Truong says that Singapore has a lot of experience in transportation management and seaport development, which Vietnam is eager to learn and study

Vietnamese State-controlled maritime businesses under the transport ministry, are already in the process of being privatised, according to the deputy minister. Vinalines has also submitted its privatisation plan to Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung for approval.

The PM had recently asked the transport ministry to build an overall plan for a seaport system. As soon as possible, the PM also wants to recoup all State capital investment in the nine seaports which are now to be privately owned, including including Khuyen Luang, Da Nang, Vinalines – Dinh Vu, and Cam Ranh, apart from Nam Can, NgheTinh, Can Tha and Cái Lân.

Truong said he hoped Singaporean businesses would invest in these ports. With the SP-PSA joint venture port, the dredged system can now handle vessels weighing 50,000 tonnes.

The ministry has also submitted the proposed new fee structure for seaport use. The proposed charges would apply to seaports in Cái Mép-Thi Vai area and HCM City, according to Truong.

Mobius, who is Templeton Emerging Markets Group’s executive chairman also noted that Malaysia’s GDP growth has been very good.

He said on Tuesday while the country’s foreign reserves have came down it was still at a good level while its public debt level was manageable.

At midday, the ringgit was at 4.1240 compared with the previous close of 4.1059 following the decline in crude oil prices. Brent crude fell 33 cents to US$39.20 a barrel.

However, year-to-date, the ringgit has strengthened to 4.16 per cent against the greenback.

Mobius also pointed out emerging markets (EM) are at a “turning point” with funds expected to flow back into EMs.

He said fund managers were “underweight” on EMs and it was now at a turning point and prices could jump rapidly, adding that EMs were in “very good shape”.

On China, Mobius said while China’s growth was decelerating, it was still an enormous economy. He added China’ services sectors were now powering the economy.

Today, the news media is a lethargic business with few investors keen to place advertisements, or at least contribute to keep online journalism afloat.

In turn, the media itself became the news, especially with the closure of The Malaysian Insider (TMI) at midnight yesterday. It joined KiniBiz, The Rakyat Post, The Ant Daily, FZ.com and ABN News, among others, that have either shut or downsized their operations.

The Edge Media Group, owner of TMI, has also been downsizing since its January announcement to staff that it is restructuring by streamlining operations and conducting layoffs.

Looking to hire a journalist? There are some 100 of them out there looking for jobs.

Added to the lack of fund inflow into the online news business is stricter enforcement by the authorities, as they rally around Premier Najib Razak, who is trying to fob off allegations over financial donations and mishandling of state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad.

According to independent watchdog Freedom House, Malaysia’s press status as of last year was “Not Free” and the organisation noted that self-censorship is common due to threats of legal action.

The Edge Media Group cited a lack of finances in shutting TMI.

“Despite the fact that TMI is one of the top three news portals based on traffic in Malaysia because of its courageous news reporting, it did not receive enough commercial support to keep it going,” group chief executive Ho Kay Tat said. Its announcement came two weeks after the government blocked the site for violating the Communications and Multimedia Act.

Ho said: “We will be letting go of all the 59 TMI staff and they will receive a severance package as required by law.”

In a separate statement, TMI editor Jahabar Sadiq said it had worked to “make all voices heard in this marketplace of ideas”.

Opposition MP Lim Kit Siang said the government is headed towards a “dark age” by blocking TMI and disregarding the country’s Multimedia Super Corridor pledge to ensure no censorship of the Internet.

The Malaysian Insider shut down

The Malaysian Insider (TMI) was updated for the final time last night, before powering down at midnight after an eight-year run that saw it become one of the best-read news sites in the politics-obsessed nation.

In June 2014, it was the marquee addition to what was The Edge Media Group’s brave expansion project. Ironically, the sudden closure of what has been a staple read for hundreds of thousands of politics junkies also marks the shocking pace at which Tong Kooi Ong’s media empire has shrunk since courting controversy with a slew of exposes on the government’s investment firm 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

The Edge Media Group said in a statement that the shutdown of the site, which drew over a million unique visitors per month, came after it failed to “receive enough commercial support”.

“TEMG (The Edge Media Group) has incurred losses of around 10 million ringgit (US$2.42 million) in the 20 months since we acquired TMI in June 2014, and we are no longer in a position to keep it going,” said chief executive Ho Kay Tat.

Ho said three existing media players showed interest after The Edge made it known the website was for sale. TMI chief editor Jahabar Sadiq also led a management buyout.

But the fact that an agreement failed to be reached for what is Malaysia’s top free-to-read news website reflects deeper problems that have plagued The Edge’s operations in the past two years.

Ho cited “the recent problems TMI had with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission” as the key stumbling block in negotiations which began even before the regulator ordered Malaysian Internet providers to cut off access to the website on February 25 due to the publishing of “unverified reports”.

The Straits Times understands that while many have been able to work around the block, the site lost about 20 per cent of its eyeballs but The Edge refused to budge on its asking price.

TMI’s closure comes just a fortnight shy of a year after Ho, Jahabar and three others were detained overnight over an article claiming that Malaysia’s nine rulers – influential heads of Islam in their respective states – had rejected a proposal to introduce Islamic criminal law, which the royals denied doing.

The Edge had also been running exposes on 1MDB’s controversial dealings. In July, Tong and Ho admitted to obtaining reams of stolen data from Swiss national Andre Xavier Justo, who was being held in Thailand for blackmailing his former employer PetroSaudi, an energy firm that was a joint venture partner with 1MDB.

But the revelation that hit Tong’s credibility was the admission that he never intended to pay Justo the promised US$2 million in exchange for about 400,000 pages of documents. The government swept in just days after, suspending The Edge’s printing licence on the grounds of national security.

By the time it overturned the decision in court two months later, the damage had been done. Other business titles had filled the void and advertisers began to view The Edge as toxic, in a market where government relations are all important.

In January, The Edge told its staff that it had to restructure due to headwinds expected across 2016/2017.

By then, some staff had already been asked to leave, its attempt at a regional magazine had failed, and the loss-making TMI had to be taken off its books.

This decision was taken at the 10th administrative review (POR 10), according to a notice of the International Trade Administration (ITA) on March 10.

The POR10 was requested on 51 Vietnamese shrimp exporters, including two mandatory respondents, Minh Phú Group and Sóc Trang Seafood JSC (Stapimex).

Mandatory respondents are exporters selected for individual investigation by the DOC as part of its countervailing duty review, whereas exporters that are not initially chosen for investigation but wish to participate, and are accepted by DOC, are voluntary respondents.

According to the preliminary results of the POR10, sales by Minh Phú Group and Stapimex to the US, the two mandatory respondents, were made below normal value, and, therefore, are subject to anti-dumping duties.

The duty on Minh Phú Group was initially set at 2.86 per cent, higher than the rate 1.39 per cent in POR9, while Stapimex was subject to a tariff at 4.78 per cent.

Anti-dumping duty on voluntary respondents was preliminarily established at 3.56 per cent, nearly four times higher than the official 0.91 per cent set in POR9.

The tariff on other Vietnamese firms, those exporters not examined as mandatory or voluntary respondents in the POR10, remains at 25.76 per cent, according to preliminary results.

The official duty at the POR 10 was scheduled to release in July.

In addition, in separate Federal Register notices published on March 1, the US Department of Commerce (DoC) and the US International Trade Commission (ITC) announced the initiation of Five-Year Sunset Reviews of the anti-dumping duty orders on certain frozen warm-water shrimps from Brazil, China, India, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Vietnam’s General Department of Customs said Vietnam’s export value of shrimp to the US in 2015 reduced 38.3 per cent year-on-year to US$657 million.

Minister Mustapa Mohamed said the committee would comprise representatives of ministries and government agencies involved in the trade agreement.

“The National Committee and subsidiary bodies will mirror the set-up of the TPP Joint Commission and subcommittees under the trade agreement.

“I will continue to engage with members of parliament in facilitating and monitoring the implementation of the TPP agreement,” Mustapa said in a statement Tuesday.

Following the signing of the TPP agreement on February 4, Malaysia as well as the other 11 member countries are currently completing domestic procedures to ratify the agreement.

In Malaysia, several laws will be amended concerning three main areas, the rules of origin, intellectual property rights and labour. The amendments will ensure the country is in a position to meet the obligations stipulated under the agreement.

Mustapa also said engagement with the local stakeholders will continue throughout the entire period before ratification.

“As part of our efforts to ensure engagement will continue during the implementation period, a separate Consultative Committee will also be formed.

“This committee will be made up of representatives from industry players, business chambers, small and medium enterprises, non-governmental organisations and various other local stakeholders,” he said.

“The role of this consultative committee will be crucial in gathering feedback and assessing the impact of the agreement implementation from time to time,” he added.

He said the government remains committed in ensuring that Malaysia will be able to take full advantage of the opportunities and mitigate the challenges that the agreement will bring.

“It is our hope that the formation of the committees will assist us in achieving such objectives,” he said.