Visiting French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius pledged on Thursday to boost France's investment in Indonesia amid efforts by French energy giant Total to thwart state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina's attempt to take over its concession in the oil-and-gas-rich Mahakam block in East Kalimantan.

Fabius, who arrived with a business delegation, held a bilateral meeting with his Indonesian counterpart, Marty Natalegawa, at the latter's office in Jakarta. Speaking after the meeting, Fabius highlighted the importance of Indonesia to France, particularly in the economic sector.

"For a while now, we have seen a significant amount of French investment here in Indonesia, which provides jobs for Indonesian people too. But we are also observing Indonesian investment in France as well and we want to keep developing this trend," Fabius said at a joint press conference.

Marty also acknowledged the importance of improving trade and investment between the two countries.

"We discussed efforts to optimize potential economic cooperation in both countries. He [Fabius] is accompanied by French businesspeople and leaders of France's top firms; this shows France's serious interest in exploring economic ties with Indonesia," Marty said.

Total E&P Indonesie, the local subsidiary of French giant Total, currently holds the Mahakam block production concession under a production-sharing contract with the government.

While State-Owned Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan has insisted on Pertamina taking over the whole production operation in Mahakam, Total has offered a sharing operatorship with the Indonesian firm in a bid to retain French shares in the oil-and-gas field after its contract expires in 2017.

The fate of the East Kalimantan block could be on the line, with the government yet to make a decision on the matter. To make matters worse, Dahlan and Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Jero Wacik have different views about the future of the block.

Although no information was available on whether the dispute over the Mahakam concession was discussed by the two foreign ministers, it was likely that the Total saga was high on Fabius' list.

The French minister is expected to meet with Jero on Friday.

Jero, a confidant of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, earlier issued a statement questioning Pertamina's ability to operate the block, triggering speculation that he favored Total.

Marty, meanwhile, reiterated the two foreign ministers' commitment to speed up the implementation of the Indonesia-France Strategic Partnership Declaration signed by the two countries' leaders in 2011.

The five priority areas in the declaration are trade and investment; education, research and science; defense industry; culture and tourism; and climate change.

"Since the strategic partnership was signed, Indonesia and France have witnessed significant improvement in cooperation, especially in the economic sector. Trade volume between the two countries, for example, stood at around US$3 billion last year, with average annual growth of 5.9 percent in the 2008-2012 period," Marty said.

On the sidelines of the bilateral meeting, the two sides signed two memorandums of understanding (MoUs), one on bureaucratic reform and another on education and training in diplomacy.

By Bagus BT Saragih, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

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