Indonesia Intensifies Investment Opportunities In Dubai

JAKARTA - Indonesia is intensifying investment and trade opportunities through the implementation of the 2023 Indonesian Investment Forum in Dubai (IIFD) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

"IIFD aims to open opportunities to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) as well as expand the market for export-oriented products," said Bank Indonesia (BI) Governor Perry Warjiyo in an official statement, quoted from Antara, Friday, March 10.

The IIFD 2023 series was organized by BI together with the Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia (KJRI) Dubai, the Indonesian Embassy in Abu Dhabi, the Indonesia Investment Promotion Center (IIPC)-Investment Ministry of the Republic of Indonesia, and the Indonesian Trade Promotion Center (ITPC)-Ministry of Trade of the Republic of Indonesia on March 8, 2023.

In this activity, Perry conveyed three important reasons why foreign investors should invest in Indonesia compared to other countries. First, Indonesia has the best economic performance after the pandemic. Indonesia's economic fundamentals are relatively strong with optimal digitalization acceleration.

"The Indonesian economy is more stable in monetary and financial, this is good for investment," he said.

Second, the strong national economic policy. Indonesia as the leading economic reform has strong leadership in government policies, including coordination between fiscal and monetary so that Indonesia's state revenue and expenditure budget (APBN) relatively optimally reduces the shock that hit the economy. This will facilitate investment and trade.

Furthermore, there is a structural transformation of the real sector that the government continues to encourage for the development of downstream mining and agriculture, a green and inclusive economy.

Third, BI supports investment with policies in the form of new policies that are prostability and proper growth to support a good investment climate.

An example of the implementation of this policy is incentives related to banking policies for financing priority sectors, developing and digitizing MSMEs, and easier payments with integration, interopolability, and interconnection.

In the future, inter-state payment transactions will be easier both through cross-border payment, local currency transaction and digital rupiah.

On the same occasion, Indonesian Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Husin Bagis said that the UAE is an important partner of Indonesia both in religion, health, conservation, mangroves, culture and economy including investment, trade and finance.

The investment value of the UAE in Indonesia has reached 4.5 billion US dollars and is targeted to reach 20 billion US dollars in 2030. Investment commitments continue to run, including telecommunications, biothermals, solar panels, oil and gas as a significant FDI for Indonesia.

"We believe that the most important thing in this momentum is how to follow up," he said.

Furthermore, there are four projects that have the opportunity to get investment from Middle Eastern investors, namely Agro Techno Park in Garut as a center for agricultural development as well as educational tourism objects and Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Health-Tourism in Bali, which is an integrated area for medical purposes as well as tourism.

Then, there is the Wado Hydro Electric Powerplant project, which is the Cimanuk River hydropower plant, Wado, with a capacity of 50 MW which is a national strategic project (PSN), and Wind Power Plant Tolo 2, which is a 72 MW wind power plant in Janeponto, South Sulawesi.

The four projects classified as sustainable economies were previously curated by BI, IIPC Abu Dhabi. The project features and delivers live presentations to potential investors, and is expected to contribute to the green and sustainable economy for a better future for the earth.

IIFD offers a number of activities that market Indonesia's potential, including presentations of several Investment Project Opportunities (IPRO), Indonesian Night in Dubai which include the IN2MOTION FEST (modest fashion show), nights and exhibitions of Indonesian micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) including BI assisted.