EU, Indonesia negotiate partnership

Jakarta (The Jakarta Post/ANN) – Indonesia and the European Union (EU) began negotiations on Monday on a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) that seeks to eliminate over 95 per cent of import tariffs on goods and improve bilateral investment.
The chief operating officer of the EU’s external action service, David O’Sullivan, said the Indonesia-European Union CEPA would be very important for the economic growth of both regions amidst the global economic turmoil.
“We already are a major trading and investment partner of Indonesia. In fact, we have huge complementarity. We believe it is very beneficial in terms of trade and investment to have an agreement with Indonesia. It is a win-win solution for both sides,¿ O’Sullivan said.
The EU has a combined non oil and gas trade value of US$32 billion in 2011 with Indonesia, an all time high, and a trade surplus of $8 billion for Indonesia.
In terms of investments, businesses from the EU invested up to $2.2 billion in 2011, making it the second-largest source of foreign investment into Indonesia. EU companies also employ over 500,000 employees in Indonesia.
“It is time to start the negotiation. From our perspective, trade negotiation typically takes a couple of years but this negotiation could go relatively quickly,¿ O’Sullivan said.
Based on policy recommendations from a joint study team, the CEPA would cover improvements in market access, capacity building and facilitation of trade and investment. On trade, the agreement would implement gradual tariff reduction within a period of nine years, eliminating 95 per cent of tariffs and possibly even the remaining 5 per cent.
The capacity-building program would include a permanent forum for business-to-business and business-to-government technical dialogue and joint financing for programs. CEPA would also cover standard protocols for joint cooperation in infrastructure development under the so-called private-partnership framework.
House of Representatives’ trade commission chairman Airlangga Hartarto said that the multitude of issues being discussed meant the agreement could potentially provide many beneficial opportunities for both regions.
“This is not a Free Trade Area (FTA) agreement but will be more comprehensive. The issues being discussed include trading, investment and capacity-building. These issues make this agreement different from the FTA, which only aims at eliminating levies,¿ Airlangga said.
Indonesian Employers’ Association (Apindo) chairman Sofjan Wanandi said that he expected EU investment to provide benefits to small- and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs), a sector on which Indonesia relied heavily for growth.
“I believe this [agreement] will benefit both sides and we must also involve SMEs in our future investment plans. We are going to promote this agreement throughout the essential business regions in the country,¿ Sofjan said.
“Now that the negotiation is underway, we need to promote this agreement to the public so that they can give us their input. This [negotiation] will take time and therefore Indonesia must play the main role in ensuring the discussions go in line with our interests,¿ he added.
Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) deputy chairman for international trade Emirsyah Satar said that establishing a comprehensive partnership with the EU was important because there was still a lot of untapped potential.
“We rank only at number 23 in the world in imports to the EU. On the other hand, the EU is the fourth-largest exporter into Indonesia. So, there is still a lot of room for business growth,¿ Emirsyah said.
COPYRIGHT: ASIA NEWS NETWORK

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CORE BioFuel Inc. Engages Osprey Capital Partners Inc. to Secure Investment for Construction Engineering

TORONTO–(Marketwire -01/25/12)- CORE BioFuel Inc., a Canadian company focused on energy security for the North American and European markets, announced today that it has signed an exclusive agreement with Osprey Capital Partners Inc., based in Toronto, Canada. Osprey Capital will secure equity investment capital to fund the completion of construction engineering for CORE’s first wood-to-Green Gasoline plant to be built in Canada. This major step will enable CORE to establish an Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract with an international oil/gas engineering company to define a fixed plant cost. The EPC contract will allow CORE to secure project debt financing and performance guarantees for the plants through AON Reed Stenhouse, one of the largest insurance brokers in the world.
Osprey’s work for CORE will be spearheaded by Alan Crossley, who has over twenty-five years of experience in the chemical, petroleum, and renewable fuels industry. Mr. Crossley commented: “Osprey Capital is very pleased to be working with the CORE team. CORE will be producing a carbon neutral, market ready gasoline utilizing existing technologies, has secured an off-take agreement and has a significant competitive advantage in terms of production costs. This makes the CORE project an excellent investment opportunity. Osprey has seen a significant number of bio-based fuel projects, and we believe CORE BioFuel will become the market leader.”
George Stanko, President of CORE Biofuel, stated: “We are extremely excited about signing this agreement with Osprey Capital. Osprey is a leader in investment banking and Alan Crossley shares our passion for renewable energy. This agreement positions us to take a giant step forward in our commercialization process and become the global leader in advanced cellulosic biofuels production.”
Osprey Capital Partners Inc., since its founding in 1998, has become one of Canada’s leading independent investment banking and financial advisory firms, with offices in Toronto, Calgary, Winnipeg and Nova Scotia. Osprey’s success with public offerings, mergers, acquisitions, funding and financing transactions stems from its basic understanding of the needs of mid-market companies paired with its established relationships with leading banks, insurance companies, pension funds, institutional investors and private equity firms — not only in Canada but the US and Europe as well. Osprey is experienced in assisting its clients through all aspects of private investment and public offerings. For additional information see www.ospreycapital.ca.
CORE BioFuel Inc. is commercializing its patent-pending Green Gasoline process, a ground-breaking development that addresses the challenge of producing a drop-in gasoline from cellulosic biomass. The technology uses industrially proven equipment, and the process is scalable, efficient and provides a cost effective solution to producing carbon neutral, benzene-free gasoline. CORE’s Green Gasoline will be a 94-octane, clean-burning alternative to conventional gasoline from petroleum sources. A CORE BioFuel plant will not only produce gasoline from unwanted wood waste but its by-products will consist of water, electricity to run its own operation, and carbon dioxide suitable for commercial use. For additional information, see http://www.corebiofuel.com/.
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CORE BioFuel Inc. Engages Osprey Capital Partners Inc. as Investment Banking Advisor

TORONTO–(Marketwire -01/24/12)- CORE BioFuel Inc., a Canadian company focused on energy security for the North American and European markets, announced today that it has signed an exclusive agreement with Osprey Capital Partners Inc., based in Toronto, Canada. Osprey Capital will secure equity investment capital to fund the completion of construction engineering for CORE’s first “Green Gasoline” wood-to-gasoline plant to be built in Canada. This major step will enable Core to establish an Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract with an international oil/gas engineering company who will define a fixed plant cost. The EPC contract will enable CORE to secure project debt financing as well as performance guarantees for the plants through AON Reed Stenhouse, one of the largest insurance brokers in the world.
Osprey’s work for CORE will be spearheaded by Alan Crossley, who has over twenty-five years of experience in the chemical, petroleum, renewable fuels and logistics industry. “Osprey Capital is very pleased to be working with the CORE team,” Mr. Crossley commented. “The fact that CORE will be producing a zero-carbon-based, market ready gasoline utilizing existing technologies; has secured an off-take agreement; and has a significant competitive market advantage in terms of production costs — all will make this an excellent investment opportunity. Osprey has seen a significant number of bio-based fuel projects. We believe CORE BioFuel will become the market leader.”
George Stanko, President of CORE Biofuel, stated, “We are extremely excited about signing this agreement with Osprey Capital. Osprey is a leader in their field and Alan Crossley shares our passion for renewable energy. This agreement positions us to make a giant step forward in our commercialization process and become the global leader in advanced cellulosic biofuels production.”
Osprey Capital Partners Inc., since its founding in 1998, has become one of Canada’s leading independent investment banking and financial advisory firms, with offices in Toronto, Calgary, Winnipeg and Windsor, Nova Scotia. Osprey’s success with public offerings, mergers, acquisitions, funding and financing transactions stems from its basic understanding of the needs of mid-market companies paired with its established relationships with leading banks, insurance companies, pension funds, institutional investors and private equity firms — not only in Canada but the US and Europe as well. Osprey is experienced in assisting its clients through all aspects of private investment and public offerings. For additional information see www.ospreycapital.com.
CORE BioFuel Inc. is commercializing its patent-pending Green Gasoline process, a ground-breaking development that addresses the challenge of producing a drop-in gasoline from cellulosic biomass. The technology uses industrially proven equipment, and the process is scalable, efficient and provides a cost effective solution to producing carbon neutral, benzene-free gasoline. CORE’s Green Gasoline will be a 94-octane, clean-burning alternative to conventional gasoline from petroleum sources. A CORE BioFuel plant will not only produce gasoline from unwanted wood waste but its by-products will consist of water, electricity to run its own operation, and carbon dioxide suitable for commercial use. For additional information, see http://www.corebiofuel.com/.
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