Jakarta - Indonesia is open to the importation of any goods by foreign firms as long as it is done in accordance with regulations in force in the country, a minister said.

"We welcome and invite investment into Indonesia but they must abide by the law, including the law on the environment," Finance Minister Agus Marto Wardoyo said here on Saturday.

He made the statement during an inspection of 113 containers filled with hazardous and toxic (B3) waste materials from overseas that had been impounded at Tanjung Priok port.

Agus, Environment Minister Balthasar Kambuaya and customs and excise officials took a look at the 113 containers filled with sleek scrap mixed with a chemical substance that had been shipped from Britain and the Netherlands.

The minister said that Indonesia allowed the importation of scrap steel but the 113 containers were suspected to have been imported not based on regulations because they were still mixed with chemical substance, waste and soil.

He said the customs and excise office and the office of the environment minister would follow up the finds. The containers will be made evidence for a legal process that should be settled immediately because they were hazardous and toxic materials.

He said that the importers must account for the importation of the goods but presumption of innocence must be observed.

"It would be seen whether they would be re-exported or be taken to court," he said.

Wardoyo said that many countries actually knew that certain goods were B3 and were not allowed to enter Indonesia, yet their importers in Indonesia imported them.

He said that Indonesia had signed the Basel Convention which regulated the movement of wastes among nations. Waste entering Indonesia should be equipped with a notification.