VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Head of the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) Bambang Brodjonegoro has highlighted the importance of convincing foreign investors about potential areas of investment in Indonesia, so that they invest in the country.

"The point is we are seeking investment opportunities in infrastructure, from both strategic and financial investors. The most important aspect is we convince foreign investors that opportunities lie in Indonesia, and we already have a scheme and regulation in place that they could adopt," Brodjonegoro stated in Jakarta on Wednesday ( 21 March )

Earlier, the Investment Coordinating Board had held an Indonesian Infrastructure Investment Forum in London, the United Kingdom, and in Dublin, Ireland.  According to Brodjonegoro, the potential for investment from the United Kingdom and Ireland is still quite large, especially in the fields of finance and services. Ireland was selected to be the venue for holding the investment forum owing to the large migration of financial institutions. Meanwhile, opportunities to attract foreign investment from England are still quite large, especially in infrastructure and services.

"They are interested, but surely, most of them have never invested in Indonesia, so they need time to review projects in the pipeline and the scheme. Currently, we are in the follow-up phase. We need to make them understand the risks and potential areas of investment in Indonesia," Brodjonegoro explained.

The government is currently conducting intensive tourism development through the introduction of "the 10 new Bali."

The government has invited British and Irish investors, among others, to invest in Indonesia, with an alternative scheme of Non-Government Budget Infrastructure Financing. Indonesia was one of the promising investment destinations among the top five EU investment destinations in Southeast Asia for the 2007-2017 period. Indonesia ranks first, with 266 projects worth US$13,259.8 billion. The realization of British investment in Indonesia is still ranked eighth, below China, Japan, and France. (antara)