VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Ahead of the Group of 20 Countries (G-20) Summit, the Indonesian Government held an Indonesia Round Table Business Meeting held at The New Otani, Osaka, Japan, Thursday (6/27).

During the meeting the Indonesian Government Delegation was led by the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut B Pandjaitan, Minister of Finance (Minister of Finance) Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Minister of Industry Airlangga Hartarto, Minister of Trade Engagartiasto Lukita, and Head of the Investment Coordinating Board ( BKPM) Thomas Lembong.

A total of 21 (twenty-one) Japanese companies attended the meeting including Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), Daihatsu Motor Co.LTD, Honda Motor Co.LTD, Marubeni Coorporation, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Mitsui and CO.LTD, Nippon Steel, Sumitomo Corporation, Toyota Tsuho Corporation.

Representing President Joko Widodo, Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut B. Pandjaitan in his remarks said that the Indonesian economy had developed well in the past 5 (five) years with an average growth of 5 percent. In addition, legal certainty in Indonesian investment is very important, and the President is very concerned about this.

The Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs also said that Japan was very consistent in being an Indonesian partner, and he had no doubt about Japanese businessmen working together in Indonesia.

"The ease of investment in Indonesia is definitely better in the past," Luhut said, saying that he believed Japanese companies had felt that way.

The President's message, continued Luhut, should never hesitate to invest in Indonesia and not want investors to be complicated in the investment process.

At the end of the statement, the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs said that the ministers present at the meeting were to answer obstacles from investors.

Ease of Taxation

During the question and answer session, Minister of Finance (Minister of Finance) Sri Mulyani Indrawati said that with this meeting Japanese entrepreneurs were expected to be able to increase their investment in Indonesia. That is because the Indonesian market is very large and also strategic to become a hub for other countries.

"In improving the investment climate we continue to improve policies. Currently President Jokowi continues to ask for an improvement in the investment climate, "said the Minister of Finance.

In the field of taxation, the Minister of Finance said that the Ministry he led continued to issue policies to ease tax matters. "The first facility is a tax holiday for new investments in 18 types of business sectors, whether it is petrochemical or electronic," he said.

If conducting training, the Minister continued, also will get additional tax. "The process given for tax holidays and allowances will be very easy if it is already included in that category. Currently there are 289 trillion new investments, "he said.

In addition to the tax holiday, the Minister continued, the Government also prepared a Bonded Zone or Industrial Zone with facilities provided by the government.

Meanwhile, Minister of Industry (Minister of Industry) Airlangga Hartarto said that raw materials were key in the operationalization of the industry.

"The development of the Merak port is a necessity for industrial development," he said while conveying the plan to develop Patimban Port.

After the Indonesia Round Table Business Meeting, a One on One Meeting was held between the Government of Indonesia and 6 (six) Japanese companies. (setkab)