Indonesia secures 2.3 bln USD of investment commitments from Japan

Indonesia pocketed 2.3 billion U.S. dollars in investment commitments pledged by Japanese investors serving in various sectors comprised of chemical, steel, textile, automotive, export-oriented upstream industry and property, a senior Indonesian official said on Thursday.

The investment pledges were obtained during the recent official visit to promote Indonesia's investment in Japan's cities of Osaka and Tokyo, Head of Indonesia's Investment Coordinating Agency ( BKPM) Franky Sibarani said.

The visit to Japan was to follow up executive commitments to increase investment cooperation between the two nations resulted during the recent official visit of Indonesian President Joko Widodo to Japan in March.

"The BKPM wants to assure further materialization of investment commitments pledged by investors by monitoring progress of the process. We would facilitate those investors should they encounter hurdles in the materialization process," Franky said in a statement.

Franky added that Japan's investment commitment in steel industry would help Indonesia reduce massive imports on steel as it has to import 9 to 10 million tons of steel each year as to fulfill domestic needs that reaches 14 million tons. Producers operating in the country were only able to supply 5 million tons of steel each year, he said.

He expected that materialization of Japan's investment commitments would improve the nation's economy and provide more jobs for the people. Endi