GE Tells Obama ‘Sell Hard’ in Indonesia, With China in Pursuit

[Turborama]

By Daniel Ten Kate and Stuart Biggs

March 18 (Bloomberg) -- General Electric Co. Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt wants Barack Obama to “sell hard” in Indonesia as he extols U.S. expertise in industries such as clean energy. He’ll have to work fast -- Premier Wen Jiabao will make China’s sales pitch in Jakarta next month.

President Obama’s trip to his childhood home, already delayed once and currently scheduled for March 23-25, is key to a pledge to boost U.S. exports and “lead the global economy” in providing alternatives to fossil fuels. Southeast Asia’s biggest economy, which Immelt included last week among nations that may provide the growth “surprise” of the next decade, has the world’s largest geothermal reserves.

Winning orders for plants that harness the earth’s heat to produce electricity is a test of the U.S.’s ability to compete with China for exports in a region where its investments lag the European Union and Japan. China profited from Indonesia’s earlier energy needs, supplying coal-fired plants in the last decade, said Ravi Krishnaswamy, Singapore-based Asia-Pacific director for Frost & Sullivan, an energy consultancy.

“It’s sort of scary because China has moved so quickly and they’ve been so efficient in developing their industry,” said Peter du Pont, who runs an Asia clean-energy program in Bangkok funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development. The U.S. risks “losing whole markets if they’re not active,” he said.

Continues: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-03-17/ge-tells-obama-sell-hard-in-indonesia-with-china-in-pursuit.html

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