The SBA Nordic networking cocktail (every 2nd Wednesday every month) will be at Club Macanudo in Shangri-La Hotel, from 19.00 to 21.00 on Wednesday March 14 and we offer free flow of drinks (wine, beer, spirits, soft drink) between 19.00 and 21.00. The self cost is IDR 100,000 per person. A separate invitation will be send out.

The Annual meeting will happen on March 22, at 18.00 in Shangri-la Hotel. All voting members should show up. We will elect a new board and take a look at the activities for the coming year. All members are welcome, send me a mail and register your participation.

The annual SBA delegation for winter activities will leave for Åre on March 9 and work hard on business processes for a week. The delegation is larger this year and you can read about the result in the March newsletter.

2. European News

The next networking event will be on March 7 at Mandarin Oriental. Contact EuroCham for registration and/or more information phone: (62 21) 521 16 50 / fax: (62 21) 521 16 51 email: info@eurocham.or.id. There will be a cocktail event every first Wednesday of the month from now on. Don't miss it.

It has been a busy month with several minister meetings. First a successful working session with Mari Pangestu, followed by a policy reform steering committee lead by Sri Muliani. More information on this can be found at the EuroCham web site at www.eurocham.or.id.

The SBA Nordic networking cocktail (every 2nd Wednesday every month) will be at Club Macanudo in Shangri-La Hotel, from 19.00 to 21.00 on February 14 and we offer free flow of drinks (wine, beer, spirits, soft drink) between 19.00 and 21.00. The self cost is IDR 100,000 per person. A separate invitation will be send out.

This time on popular request, we will have all the literature and documents issued around SBA and EuroCham. We will start to use the popular networking event to disseminate information and there will always be a member from the board as well as EuroCham to answer questions.

We had a very nice Nordic event last week, this time organized by the Norwegian colleagues. Greg Elms from IFC gave a very mixed picture of the current economical situation. Surprisingly not as positive as most of us expected from a company in the World Bank group. It is clear to everyone these days that the changes in the Indonesian economic landscape are not going to be fast.

We will start to send invitations to events using the SBA Newsletter mailing list and if anyone has any problem with that, please let me know. It will be limited to Swedish and European events though so no ordinary spam.

2. European News

The next networking event will be on February 7 at Mandarin Oriental. Contact EuroCham for registration and/or more information phone: (62 21) 521 16 50 / fax: (62 21) 521 16 51 email: info@eurocham.or.id. There will be a cocktail event every first Wednesday of the month from now on. Don't miss it.

The signing of agreement with Kadin and EuroCham was a great success with Minister Boediono and Ambassador Jean Breteche overseeing the ceremony. Bp. Boediono did not come with any great surprises during his presentation but he highlighted that 156 new policies have been implemented. He underlined the governments hope to have a positive impact on the infrastructure investments and development during 2007 to 2009. One just wishes that the local governments around Indonesia have a similar view.

ENGAGE has another session in Bangkok on January 29-31. More information at www.bangkok2007.engage-ist.org.

The SBA Nordic networking cocktail (every 2nd Wednesday every month) will be at Club Macanudo in Shangri-La Hotel, from 19.00 to 21.00 on January 10 and we offer free flow of drinks (wine, whiskey, vodka, soft drink) between 19.00 and 21.00 (strictly, after 21.00 normal charges). The self cost is IDR 100,000 per person. This time I will host my self and we will distribute interesting information on the plans for two new large events during the coming 2007. There are plans on a European investment conference where consequences and reality is to be discussed with high profile speakers, and a coming annual European product exhibit is being in the plans.

2. European News

The IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) started on December 15 with a large interest and I believe this is going to be a very important and successful project during the next year. If you are interested you should go to www.eurocham.or.id and check out the event calendar. EuroCham has won a SPF (Small Project Facility) on Infrastructure and will during 2007 continue the work on Indonesian infrastructure. The plan is to engage KADIN as well in this project. You will all hear more about this during the coming months.

The SBA Nordic networking cocktail (normally every 2nd Wednesday every month) will be at Club Macanudo in Shangri-La Hotel, from 19.00 to 21.00 on December 14 and we offer free flow of drinks (wine, whiskey, vodka, soft drink) between 19.00 and 21.00 (strictly, after 21.00 normal charges). The self cost is IDR 100,000 per person. This time we have Andreas Julin from EC as host and you have a chance to get information on what EC do for European business. Don't miss the chance to meet our Swedish connection at the EC delegation. He is responsible for trade questions, which makes it even more important to include him in our networking.

November 1-3, at Jakarta Convention Center, the Infrastructure Forum 2006 with the European Pavilion. A great success. More than 1700 visitors in our pavilion. Large interest for the catalogue and the web site www.eurocham.net. The project continues..

We had a visit from EKN (Export Credit Agency) and discussed the current rating for Indonesia. It was interesting to hear that Indonesia is rated lower than China and Vietnam, but still above countries like Bangladesh and Cambodia. Swedish Export to Indonesia has been increasing, mostly due to Ericsson, but there are several other sectors that are growing strongly. If you are interested in getting in contact with EKN, let me know and I pass you the contact information.

The SBA Nordic networking cocktail (every 2nd Wednesday every month) will be at Club Macanudo in Shangri-La Hotel, from 19.00 to 21.00 on November 8 and we offer free flow of drinks (wine, whiskey, vodka, soft drink) between 19.00 and 21.00 (strictly, after 21.00 normal charges). The self cost is IDR 100,000 per person.

November 1-3, at Jakarta Convention Center, Swedish Business Association participates with a booth in the Infrastructure Forum 2006 in the European Pavilion. After hard work we have reached to the time we will show what we have done. The Swedish participation is impressive. Telecom and environment as the main attractions, but we also offer a taste of Absolut Vodka at the pavilion. It is free to visit the exhibit so take the chance to see what Sweden can do in infrastructure …