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Jakarta Post

Indonesia, Spain seek to boost investment

Indonesia and Spain are aiming to boost Spanish investment here through an agreement to promote cooperation among companies from both countries

Shafira Chairunnisa (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Fri, July 13, 2018

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Indonesia, Spain seek to boost investment

I

ndonesia and Spain are aiming to boost Spanish investment here through an agreement to promote cooperation among companies from both countries.

The agreement was inked in a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (Kadin) vice chairman Kosmian Pudjiadi and the Spanish Confederation of Employers and Industries (CEOE) vice chairman Joaquín Gay de Montellá during an Indonesian-Spanish business meeting on Thursday in Jakarta.

Kosmian said he was expecting increased Spanish investment in Indonesia after the MoU signing.

Spanish Ambassador to Indonesia José Maria Matrés Manso, who witnessed the signing, said he hoped the MoU would foster a stronger Spanish presence in Indonesia.

“The reason why many important businesses and entrepreneurs are here in Jakarta is because we want to work with Indonesia,” he said, referring to the 14 Spanish companies attending the forum.

Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) data shows that Spanish investment in Indonesia reached $7.8 million in 106 projects in 2017.

Farah Ratnadewi Indriani, deputy chairman for investment promotion at the BKPM, said 61 percent of the total US$51.75 billion foreign direct investment in Indonesia in 2017 came from Asia, adding that there was plenty of space for Spanish investment. “Indonesia is also committed to make investment easier,” she said.

Indonesia has become a preferred destination for Spanish companies thanks to the many opportunities, said Yono Reksoprodjo, deputy head of Kadin’s Permanent Committee European Section. “Indonesia is an ideal country for Spain to invest in because Indonesia has a stable economy,” he said.

Yono added that 65 percent of Indonesians would be in the productive age group by 2025 with an increasing middle-class and a growing market. Farah said Indonesia’s e-market value reached some $7 million in 2017.

Meanwhile, Javier Peña Peña, head economic and commercial counsellor at the Spanish Economic and Commercial Office in Jakarta, said that the Spanish Corporate Internationalization Fund (FIEM) would provide loans to help Spanish companies that want to invest in Indonesia. Peña said a soft loan of €320 million is available for Spanish companies involved in public projects.

When asked about any possibility of cooperation outside trade and investment, Manso told The Jakarta Post that there are many fields where the two countries could work together, such as tourism and culture.

“We have similarities between the two countries,” he said. “There are lots of thing we could work together beside trade and investment.”

The Spanish Embassy will launch an institution, in September or October, to teach the Spanish language, culture and civilization, he added.

In addition to the MoU on investment, Spain and Indonesia also have signed an MoU on sports, which resulted in Spaniard Luis Milla becoming the head coach of the Indonesian national soccer team, said Dino R. Kusnadi, the Foreign Ministry’s director for Western Europe Affairs.

“Trade, investment, culture, education is a type of people to people contact [...] that could strengthen relations between countries,” he said.

— The writer in an Intern at The Jakarta Post

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