Visiting South Korea, President Jokowi Brings Souvenir: Commitment To Investment Of IDR 100.69 Trillion

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has successfully secured investment commitments worth USD 6.72 billion or approximately IDR 100.69 trillion from South Korea. The commitment was conveyed in a meeting with 10 company leaders from South Korea.

The 10 company leaders who attended the meeting were CEO of Posco Kim Hag-dong, Vice Chairman/CEO of Lotte Chemical Kim Gyo-hyun, Vice Chairman/CEO of LG Corp. Brian Kwon, Chairman of CJ Group Sohn Kyung-Sik, Chairman of LS Group Koo Ja-Eun, Vice Chairman/CEO of GS E&C Lim Byeong-yong, CEO of Samsung Electronics Roh Tae-moon, CEO of LX Holdings Roh Jin-seo.

Jokowi expressed his appreciation to the leaders of South Korean companies who were present for the investments made in Indonesia. He revealed that South Korean investment in Indonesia showed a significant increase.

Furthermore, Jokowi also asked that if there are problems in the field, the company can directly contact the Minister of Investment/Head of the Capital Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) Bahlil Lahadalia.

"I didn't listen to the serious complaints that might happen on the pitch. But if there are problems, please convey them to the Investment Minister Pak Bahlil or to the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment (Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan), if there are problems," he said in an official statement, quoted Friday, July 29.

The former governor of DKI Jakarta also asked the company not to hesitate to convey the problem to himself directly if Bahlil and Luhut were unable to resolve it.

"If the two of them are stuck, they can't solve it, you can contact me, whether it is related to permits, whether it is related to immigration and others," said Jokowi.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Investment/Head of BKPM Bahlil Lahadalia emphasized that in addition to facilitating and guarding investment coming into Indonesia, the Ministry of Investment/BKPM will ensure that these investments can provide benefits for national entrepreneurs and local Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) through collaboration done.

"I always emphasize to all investors who enter to collaborate with national entrepreneurs and MSMEs in the regions. We encourage them to move forward together and create new economic growth points in the regions," said Bahlil.

Bahlil also emphasized that the Government of Indonesia is serious in attracting as many quality investments as possible to Indonesia. This is realized through simplification of policies in the investment sector through Law no. 11 of 2020 concerning Job Creation, specifically related to the issuance of business licenses and the provision of fiscal incentives through the Risk-Based Online Single Submission (OSS) system.

Based on data from the Ministry of Investment / BKPM shows that South Korea itself is currently ranked 5th in the realization of investment in Indonesia by country for the period 2017 to the first semester of 2022 reaching 9.08 billion US dollars.

This value was dominated by investment in the manufacturing sector, namely the motor vehicle industry which reached USD 1.7 billion; then followed by the electricity, gas, and water sector with 1.35 billion US dollars; machinery, electronics, medical instruments, electrical equipment, precision, optics, and watch industries by 0.92 billion US dollars; leather goods and footwear industry by 0.86 billion US dollars; and the chemical and pharmaceutical industries of USD 0.85 billion.