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lthough many have recognized improvements made by the Indonesian government to create a better investment climate, foreign investors remain cautious about investing in Indonesia, an analyst has said.

Indonesia Australia Business Council (IABC) chairman Kris Hidayat Sulisto said that although some changes had been made many of his Australian business counterparts still believed it was too early to invest in Indonesia.

'€œAs potential investors they see important points that have not yet been significantly improved,'€ said Kris on the sidelines of a two-day IABC conference in Yogyakarta.

Kris said such points included the legal system, facilities, restrictions and nationalistic sentiment.

A speaker of the conference, Paul Rowland of Reformasi Weekly, said he saw contradictions between what President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo said regarding foreign investment and what his cabinet members did regarding the same matter.

While the President said he welcomed foreign investors, related ministers seemed to do the opposite, he said. '€œWhat they did in fact is drive foreign investors away,'€ he told the conference.

Kris shared the same view, saying that such criticisms were not just expressed by Australian business people but also investors from other countries.

However, he said he realized that it was not a problem that could be dealt with overnight. That was why support from Indonesian employers was also needed to help convince foreign investors to invest in the country.

There would also be a time when employers would also need Indonesian government officials to further convince them that what they heard about could actually be implemented in Indonesia. '€œThey need to hear it directly from the respective government officials,'€ he said.

Some 100 participants from Indonesia and Australia took part in the conference, which is held annually and alternately in both countries. This year'€™s theme is '€œBusiness as Usual?'€.

Among the honorary speakers are Australian Minister of Trade and Investment Andrew Robb scheduled to deliver a keynote speech on Tuesday. '€œThis year'€™s conference is unique because the Australian Minister of Trade and Investment will be here and he will bring with him a group of potential Australian investors,'€ Kris said.

He also expressed the hope that Indonesian employers would hear more from the minister regarding what was on offer in Australia during a bigger forum to be held in Jakarta after the conference in Yogyakarta.

He expressed concern that regardless of the fact that Indonesia and Australia were neighbors, the trade balance between Indonesia and Australia was only some US$15 billion. '€œAs neighbors we should have a bigger trade balance,'€ he said, adding that Indonesia only ranked 15th in trade with Australia.