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'Hasta la vista' restrictions, Jokowi tells US investors
President Joko âJokowiâ Widodo is inviting American businesspeople to explore the Indonesian market as it is undergoing structural reform that will make it easier for investors to set up businesses in Southeast Asiaâs largest economy
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resident Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo is inviting American businesspeople to explore the Indonesian market as it is undergoing structural reform that will make it easier for investors to set up businesses in Southeast Asia's largest economy.
In the US-ASEAN business council conference on the sidelines of the US-ASEAN Summit in San Francisco, California, the President said Indonesia would continue to deregulate, simplify, open up and modernize its rules and regulations so as to woo more investments.
'There are still many excessive permits, licenses and restrictions to which we will say, 'Hasta la vista, baby',' Jokowi said, drawing laughter and applause from 300 members of an audience who were mainly American business executives and who recognized the catchphrase of ex-California governor and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Indonesia recently opened up its economy to foreign investors by revising its negative investment list, which consists of sectors in which foreign investments are restricted, in the broadest lifting of investment restrictions in more than 10 years. About 30 sectors, including toll roads, large e-commerce businesses and restaurants, will be 100 percent open, while more than 100 subsectors get higher a foreign ownership cap.
The liberalization is among the 10 economic stimulus packages the government has been releasing since September last year to intensify efforts to cut red tape, deregulate policies and incentivize strategic sectors to woo investments amid a domestic economic slowdown that reduced growth to a six-year low last year at 4.8 percent.
'But I'm not satisfied. Please understand that we are still only at the beginning,' Jokowi told the US-ASEAN business council crowd at the St. Regis Hotel, which carried a theme 'Asia's Best Kept Secret: ASEAN Economic Community'.
The President boasted of the rupiah's and the stock market's resilience, which continued to outperform other emerging Asian currencies and markets even as the stock market in China declined significantly and crude oil prices plummeted at the beginning of the year.
He also told the audience of his major infrastructure agenda, which he said would see the largest amount of infrastructure being created in the past 15 years.
'Companies and businesses must invest for the future. Together we must invest for the long term and not only focus on short-term measures, which are popular and easy,' Jokowi said. 'We, the government of Indonesia, stand ready to do our part. I invite you, ladies and gentleman, to join us in doing what is good.'
Jokowi's speech at the US-ASEAN business council conference is part of his agenda for the two-day US-ASEAN Summit in Sunnylands, California, where leaders from the regional bloc met US President Barack Obama to discuss a broad range of issues and to forge partnerships in security, diplomacy, business and trade.
At the end of the summit's first day, President Obama announced the establishment of a US-ASEAN trade workshop, which would consist of a series of sessions to help ASEAN members understand the previsions and requirements of the US-backed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) because a number of countries have expressed interest in joining the trade deal.
Aside from the ASEAN workshop over the TPP, another effort to enhance US-ASEAN economic linkages includes the US-ASEAN Connect initiative, with dedicated centers to be set up in Bangkok, Jakarta and Singapore to facilitate economic cooperation.
'If you are an American SME [small and medium-sized enterprise] or start-up and want to invest in ASEAN [or vice versa], you may be totally lost on how to go about it. Connect can help you to jumpstart your small business,' said Keith Harris, president of global safety science consultancy firm UL LLC and chairman of the US-ASEAN Business Council, as quoted by Today online web site.
'If you are a really large business, it is very useful also to have an organization like the Connect that can help you deal with regional issues that may be getting in the way of the business growing or expanding.'
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