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he Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) plans to lure more foreign investors from East Asian countries, particularly Japan, in order to meet its direct investment target this year.

The investment board recently visited Japan, which is Indonesia'€™s second largest foreign direct investor, to hold investment marketing and dialogues with investors in the country, according to its top official.

BKPM head Franky Sibarani said Japan was the most promising foreign investor.

The BKPM mission to boost East Asian foreign direct investment is part of its plan to achieve its investment target at Rp 519.5 trillion this year, an increase of around 14 percent as compared to the value recorded in the previous year.

'€œBased on our discussions with Japanese investors in Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka, there has been a positive result, because at least we had 37 investors who expressed their interest to start new or expanding current investments,'€ Franky said in a press conference on Thursday.

Franky said nine of the 37 investors had announced their amount of investment worth US$1.98 billion, while 10 planned ones worth $1.4 billion had obtained principal permits as they were undergoing the realization process.

Meanwhile, the remaining six investors had ensured they obtained principal permits, even though no investment amount had been announced, he added.

According to Franky, Japanese investors are now quite active in carrying out their efforts to invest and expand their investments in Indonesia.

He said that '€œtwo of every three Japanese investors are expanding their businesses, based on recent research conducted by the Japan Export Trade Research Organization [JETRO].'€

Franky said the dialogues had also shown that Japanese investors were interested in investing in sectors outside automotives and electronics, such as farming, shipping, property, hospitals as well as import-substitution industries for steel and petrochemicals.

'€œWe will routinely hold discussions continually with them and monitor progress,'€ Franky added.

In the period between 2010 and April 2015, Japanese companies planned to invest at least US$20.6 billion after they obtained their business permits in 2010, according to BKPM data.

The data also reveals that Japan'€™s realized investment in Indonesia between 2010 and March 2015 stood at $13.3 billion, or equal to 64.5 percent of the planned amount of $20.6 billion.

Through the dialogues, the BKPM'€™s deputy director for investment monitoring and implementation, Azhar Lubis, explained that Japanese investors had voiced expectations that the Indonesian government would provide more leniency in relation to their workforce and families as expatriates in the country.

Azhar pointed out that they were hoping that the Indonesian government would offer more relaxed visa requirements for their parents, who usually joined their stays for six to seven months with tourist visas to spend their summer holidays in Indonesia.

They also voiced ideas to invest in local properties to build or rent a special compound for their elderly parents during their holiday, supported by qualified hospitals and healthcare workers with Japanese standards.

'€œThe current tourist visa only allows a stay for three months at a maximum, so the parents of Japanese investors and workers should exit for a while and then return after a new term for their visas has been approved,'€ Azhar said.