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large domestic market, a friendly bureaucracy, political stability and fair labor costs are key elements in attracting foreign investors and influencing whether they decide to invest in a foreign country.

Indonesia has a strong record of drawing in foreign investment, as it is a developing country that works hard to develop its internal regulations and policies to promote foreign direct investment (FDI).

President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo's recent promise to create a 'one-stop' service for foreign investors will help make Indonesia even stronger as a center for foreign investment.

The Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) serves as the primary interface between businesses and the Indonesian government. Its mandated goal is to boost FDI by creating a friendly climate for investment.

To accomplish this, it should make the process of investing as simple as possible to encourage foreign investors to invest their money and enable them to do so easily.

The BKPM has already taken some steps to facilitate foreign investment. As regulated by BKPM regulation no. 5/2013 and amended by BKPM regulation no. 12/2013 regarding licensing procedures, the BKPM should accommodate a one-stop service.

This means that certain government ministries delegate their authority to the BKPM so that the BKPM can independently issue business licenses.

In theory, this means that investors only need to go to one place to officially license their business investment.

Although dealing with complex national regulations, the BKPM has made efforts to promote Indonesia internationally.

According to the BKPM's Official Investment Realization Report in Quarter 3, from January ' September 2014, the total value of investment reached Rp 342.7 trillion (US$28.3 billion), which represents a 16.8 percent increase from the same period in 2013 when the total was Rp 293.3 trillion.

Nevertheless, there is still more progress to be made.

In practice, many foreign investors still need to visit multiple ministries to discuss their business plans and obtain all the necessary technical licenses for their investment.

This process can be unnecessarily complex and take multiple years to complete.

Both domestic and foreign companies have often complained of an excessive number of regulations and laws, some of which contradict each other and make it very difficult to quickly acquire the necessary licenses and registration.

This complex bureaucracy goes against the commercial interests of proposed business plans, delays investment and dissuades some businesspeople from investing at all.

President Jokowi is planning to further increase the efficiency of Indonesia's bureaucracy and make BKPM a true one-stop service for investment.

He has acknowledged that Indonesia 'is not agile in economic development because we have too many rules'.

To solve this problem, he and his administration hope to revise the number of regulations pertaining to business and investment.

This will make the process of applying for licenses less complicated and cut bureaucratic red tape.

If Jokowi's plan comes to fruition, an investor who plans to invest in Indonesia through FDI will only need to go to the BKPM.

There, they can complete all the applications necessary to obtain all the relevant licenses to establish their business in Indonesia.

This will make the foreign investment process much simpler, faster and encourage more people to invest in Indonesia.

The increase in foreign investment helps not only foreign investors but the Indonesian economy and the country as a whole.

Jokowi's vision to create a real one-stop service for investment should be supported by Indonesian citizens and lawmakers to increase Indonesia's economic potential and show the world that Indonesia is a country that welcomes investment.
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The writer is a legal consultant in Mochtar Karuwin Komar (MKK) and an alumnus of the Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia.