Taipei, Oct. 12 (CNA) A delegation departed for the Indonesian island of Morotai Tuesday as Taiwan mulls the Indonesian government's offer to have Taiwan help develop the island, officials of the two countries said Tuesday.
The Southeast Asian country has contacted Taiwan to participate in developing in the island, which is located between the Philippines and New Guinea and has a population of 50,000 people, confirmed Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) spokesman James Chang on Tuesday.
Taiwan welcomed the offer, he said.
Indonesia's representative to Taiwan Harmen Sembiring, officials from the MOFA's Department of Asian and Pacific Affairs and a group of Taiwanese businessmen embarked on a trip to the underdeveloped island Tuesday to conduct a preliminary evaluation, said Irene Pan of the Indonesian Economic and Trade Office to Taipei's Investment Department.
The delegation is scheduled to return to Taiwan Oct. 19, she said.
Pan said Indonesia's Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries first made contact with Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) in September when Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang was in Indonesia at the head of a trade and investment delegation.
"The Indonesian side hopes to attract Taiwanese investment in the sectors of seafood production, fishing, aquaculture and tourism, " said Kuo Fu-chuan, a senior technical specialist in the MOEA's Department of Investment Services.
The evaluation is still in its initial stages, Kuo said, and the Fisheries Agency still needs to gather data on Morotai's hydrology, fish species and fishing regulations before conducting its evaluation.
After that, government agencies will be able to brief local businessmen on investment opportunities.
Indonesia has also offered Taiwan Sugar Corporation and state-run oil refiner CPC Corp. Taiwan the opportunities to establish an oil refinery and development land in other parts of the archipelago country, respectively, Kuo said.
Premier Wu Den-yih said at a legislative hearing Tuesday morning that there is no timetable yet for the development project because further assessment is needed.
The MOEA's Shih said it was still too early to go into the specifics of the project, but he noted that there has been a lot of interest among local businesses to invest in Indonesia.
Taiwan's accumulated investments in Indonesia total US$13.95 billion, according to the ministry.
Morotai is best known as the site of the Battle of Morotai in World War II in 1944 and was used as a springboard for the Allied invasion of the Philippines in 1945. (By Chris Wang) enditem/ls