GOVT MAINTAINS ECONOMIC SOVEREIGNTY DESPITE AGGRESSIVE CALL ON FOREIGN INVESTMENTS

Jakarta, 28  Muharram 1436/21 November 2014 (MINA) – President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has reassured the public that the involvement of foreign investors in the country’s development projects would not harm Indonesia’s sovereignty over its natural and economic resources.

Speaking in front of the participants of the National Resilience Institute’s (Lemhanas) annual training on Tuesday, President Jokowi, who has been aggressively promoting various infrastructure projects to foreign business communities since his inauguration last month, said any country could benefit from foreign direct investment (FDI), regardless of its ideology.

“In my recent meeting with an official with the Chinese Communist Party, I asked whether the country used to be afraid that [foreign investors] would take over the country’s economy,” Jokowi said at the Presidential Palace, The Jakarta Post quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting on Thursday.

The official, according to Jokowi, said ‘no’.

“Why? It’s because the goods stay in their country,” Jokowi said.

“Take an example of foreign investors who invest money in sea port development. These investors would not be able to take [the port back] to their home country.”

Jokowi, who has just returned from a nine-day official trip overseas to attend a series of international forums, has also encouraged his administration and the public to learn from the way China successfully made compromises on its state ideology for the larger interests of its citizens.

“It means that foreign direct investment, in any form, will bring positive [impacts] to a nation,” the former Jakarta governor said.(T/P009/P3)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)