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Minister of Investment/Head of the Coordinating Board of Investment (BKPM) Bahlil Lahadalia attended a meeting in Padang, West Sumatra, on Saturday (June 26, 2021). ANTARA/HO-Investment Ministry/BKPM/sh - 

Minister of Investment/Head of the Coordinating Board of Investment (BKPM) Bahlil Lahadalia stressed the importance of synergistic collaboration between central and regional governments to tackle hurdles in attracting investment.

"The government will not only focus on investment growth but it will also attract qualified investments that can help balance the economic growth," Lahadalia said in a statement here on Sunday.

Lahadalia on Saturday (June 26) held an investment coordination meeting for Sumatra Region in Padang City of West Sumatra.

The minister said one of the hurdles for investment in some regions is uncertainty in land availability.

"There must be clear rules for sharing the central and regional administrations' tasks because the central government is not able to tackle land issues in regions," he said.

The government has the task to simplify the licensing process to enable business sector to create more jobs.

The ministry has planned to launch the Risk-based Business Licensing (PPBR) through One Single Submission (OSS) on July 2.

Providing the integrated licensing services for business players, including micro, small and medium scale enterprises (MSMEs), is aimed at implementing the Job Creation Law No.11/2020 to accelerate business licensing process in Indonesia, he said.

Meanwhile, West Sumatra Governor Mahyeldi Ansharullah said investments in his province would bring positive impacts as they would create jobs; increase purchasing power; and improve people's welfare.

Regional administrations need to make transformation by offering faster, easier, and cheaper licensing services through the OSS system; providing incentives; and creating favorable business climate, he said.

Data of the Investment Ministry/BKPM reveal that the accumulated value of direct foreign investment (PMA) and domestic investment in Sumatra in the first quarter of 2021 (January to March) has reached Rp52.3 trillion.

In West Sumatra, the value of domestic investment has so far been recorded at Rp1,418.1 billion while that of foreign investment has stood at US$5.8 million.

Realization of investment in Sumatra region during the past five years (2016-2021) has reached Rp767.2 trillion.

The largest value of investment in the island of Sumatra went to Riau Province, namely Rp169.9 trillion, followed by South Sumatra Rp169 trillion, Riau Islands Rp110 trillion, Lampung Rp55.7 trillion, Bengkulu Rp28 trillion, Aceh Rp25.6 trillion, West Sumatera Rp25.5 trillion, Jambi Rp25.2 trillion, and Bangka Belitung Rp18.5 trillion//ANT

Archive photo — A healthcare worker tests a resident for COVID-19 in Surabaya, East Java on Thursday. (ANTARA FOTO/Didik Suhartono/rwa) - 

Indonesia’s daily coronavirus cases climbed by 21,095 on Saturday, taking the total number of cases recorded since the start of the pandemic in March, 2020 to 2,093,962, the Task Force for COVID-19 Response reported.

Jakarta added the highest number of daily cases at 9,271, followed by West Java (3,787), Central Java (2,305), East Java (989), and Yogyakarta (782).

Only North Kalimantan reported no new cases.

With 7,396 people recovering from COVID-19 on Saturday, the number of recoveries reached 1,842,457. The highest number of recoveries were recorded in Jakarta at 2,725, followed by West Java (1,196), East Java (578), Central Java (569), and West Sumatra (357).

The number of patients dying of COVID-19 reached 358 in the 24 hours ended 12 p.m. local time on Saturday, bringing the death toll to 56,729.

Meanwhile, the number of active cases, or patients receiving treatment and conducting self-isolation, rose by 13,341 to reach 194,776.

Cumulatively, the highest number of COVID-19 cases were recorded in Jakarta at 510,667, followed by West Java (364,315), Central Java (244,241), East Java (168,795), and East Kalimantan (75,412).

Jakarta also recorded the highest number of recoveries at 450,746, followed by West Java (318,595), Central Java (201,931), East Java (149,351), and East Kalimantan (71,025)//ANT

People queue up to get vaccinated against COVID-19 at Gelora Bung Karno Sports Stadium in Jakarta on Saturday (June 26, 2021). (ANTARA FOTO/Galih Pradipta/wsj) - 

As many as 105,901 Indonesians received their second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine on Saturday, taking the number of fully vaccinated people to 13,018,524.

Meanwhile, the number of people receiving their first COVID-19 dose rose by 550,095 to reach 26,032,131 as of Saturday.

The government is planning to vaccinate 40,349,049 people in the first and second phases of the national vaccination program. The targeted vaccine recipients include healthcare workers, public service officers, and senior citizens.

Overall, the government is seeking to vaccinate 181.5 million citizens, or 70 percent of the country's population, to create herd immunity against the virus.

The vaccination program has been expanded to cover residents aged 18 years and above across the country.

To speed up vaccinations, the government has been working to expand the capacity of vaccination services.

Indonesia has recorded 2,093,962 COVID-19 cases since detecting the first confirmed cases in March, 2020. Of the total patients, 1,842,457 have recovered from COVID-19, while 56,729 have succumbed to the infection//ANT

Minister of Villages, Development of Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration, Abdul Halim Iskandar, giving a speech during his visit to Wedani village, Cerme district, Gresik Regency, East Java on Saturday. (ANTARA/HO-Aries) - 

Minister of Villages, Development of Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration Abdul Halim Iskandar has asked villages to think beyond tourism and focus on making good quality and a greater variety of indigenous products. 

"It is not necessary for all villages to create tourist villages. However, they can be more varied in making superior products, for example, this Wedani woven fabric product," he said while visiting Wedani village here on Saturday.

He said his observation was based on the availability of superior products in the village, including woven handicraft products that could penetrate the export market.

"As the detection of poverty in the village is easy to do. So poverty alleviation could be carried out on target," Iskandar observed.

"Along with the Village SDGs target, whose goal is to realize village independence, Wedani has been working on this target (poverty alleviation),” he said during a limited dialogue on industrial synergy and village local potential held by the Regional People's Representative Council (DPRD) of Gresik district.

The minister emphasized that village independence is aimed at eliminating poverty at the village level.

He said he hoped that the success of Wedani village would serve as a model for other villages, so that village economic diversification can be realized.

Meanwhile, Gresik Regent Fandi Akhmad Yani, who accompanied the minister during his visit, said that his region is currently focusing on developing the village’s micro economy through the development of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

The regent then described the potential for developing MSMEs and producing many superior products in Gresik Regency.

"In addition to Wedani weaving, which has penetrated exports, there is also potential in milkfish fisheries, with a turnover value up to more than Rp1 trillion a year. This will increase people's economy who have been hit hard during this pandemic," he pointed out.

The region will strengthen the MSMEs sector with regulations that would make it easier to operate businesses, the regent said.

"Together with the Gresik DPRD, we are committed to simplifying the licensing process, opening access to capital and markets," he added//ANT