REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- President Joko Widodo hailed Singapore's commitment to encouraging investment in Indonesia and hoped for more, especially in the fields of infrastructure and integrated industrial zones like Batam, Bintan and Karimun.
"We will immediately settle the issues investors continue to face in the industrial zones of Batam, Bintan and Karimun," the president said in a press statement released by the Foreign Affairs Ministry here on Wednesday.
President Joko Widodo made the remarks before Singaporean President Tony Tan Keng Yam in a bilateral meeting held at the Presidential Palace in the neighboring country, as part of his agenda for his first state visit to the island republic on July 28 and 29.
The two leaders commended the development of economic relations between the nations, as well.
Currently, Singapore is the largest investor in Indonesia, with its investment in 2014 amounting to US$2.8 billion, a 24.2 percent rise from that in 2010.
In addition, Singapore has an industrial zone project in Kendal, Central Java, which is the country's biggest investment outside the Riau Islands province.
This is a cooperation project between Singapore's SembCorp and PT Jababeka.
Besides the bilateral meeting, President Jokowi, as he is also known, held a dialog with more than 200 CEOs and business leaders of Singapore, as well.
In his speech at the meeting, he stated that Indonesia was in the process of making fundamental reforms to strengthen its economy.
He added that Indonesia had taken various measures to create a favorable investment climate, including improving regulations, simplifying investment licensing procedures and ensuring political as well as security stability.
"Do not wait till they have all been completed. It is now the right time for you to invest," he told the business leaders.
In a meeting with Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong, Jokowi emphasized the importance of ensuring regional security and stability to maintain a favorable atmosphere for business and economic development.
In view of that, the two leaders agreed to boost cooperation to overcome terrorist threats and the propagation of radicalism, as well as to increase defense cooperation by fostering better understanding between the armed forces of the two countries.
Furthermore, during his visit to the neighboring country, President Jokowi witnessed the signing of three memoranda of understanding on cooperation in the fields of youth and sports affairs, e-governance, and between the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) and the Singapore Business Federation.
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