Indonesia’s investment promotion board said it has received a request from the United States to put up a special U.S. desk at the agency to facilitate American investments into the country.
Franky Sibarani, head of Indonesia’s Capital Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM), said U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia Robert O. Blake asked for the special desk on December 3 after learning the U.S. has none yet.
BKPM already has special desks for investors in countries and regions like Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and the European Union, which have placed one or two of their representatives at BKPM.
Franky said the U.S. desk can help draw potential U.S. investments into Indonesia, since American capitalization has not reached optimum level, according to a report by Antara News.
He added that for the period 2010 to September 2015, U.S. investment in the world totaled US$694 billion. Indonesia only had a share of 1.03% of this investment, making it the American nation’s 25th top investment site.
BKPM data also showed that the United States is among the five largest foreign investors in Indonesia, its investments in the first nine months of this year reaching $854 million. From 2010 to September 2015, U.S. investment in the Southeast Asian economy totaled $8 billion to make the U.S. the third biggest investor after Singapore and Japan.
“BKPM already have a team of marketing officers to take care of US and European investors. Therefore, a US desk would certainly be more specific in dealing with prospective investors from the United States,” Franky said.
“We will study the US proposal for special desk as it will need official request from the US embassy and discussion in financing and technical matters,” he added.
BKPM also has a representative office in New York, the Indonesia Investment Promotion Center, that facilitates prospective U.S. investors wanting to do business in Indonesia.
Last month Indonesian Indonesian President Joko Widodo visited the U.S., a trip that yielded the signing of a business deal for investments worth $2.4 billion.
Photo: Canadian Pacific
