DUTCH INVESTMENT IN INDONESIA UP DURING PAST FOUR YEARS

Jakarta, April 15 (ANTARA) - Dutch investment in Indonesia saw an increase in the past four years, Dutch Ambassador to Indonesia Nicolas van Dam said in a phone interview here on Thursday.

Last March, Indonesia and the Netherlands held a routine high-level bilateral meeting in Jakarta during which the two countries' commitment was formalized with the signing of a joint action plan aimed at enhancing their trade relations and investment which had dropped as a result of the global crisis in 2009, he said.

The joint action plan was signed by Retno Marsudi of the Indonesian Foreign Ministry and Roderick van Schreven of the Dutch Economic Ministry in the presence of Trade Minister Mari Pangestu and her Dutch counterpart, Maria van der Hoeven.

On the occasion, more concrete programs were also discussed such as Dutch participation in Indonesia's 'one village, one product' program for small- and medium-scale businesses in addition to the continued implementation of programs in the field of energy, agriculture, water management, sanitation and others.

The biennial meeting was held based on an economic cooperation agreement signed in 1968.

Touching on Dutch investment in Indonesia, the ambassador said cumulatively his country ranked second on the list of biggest investors in the world's largest archipelagic country.

Last year, the Netherlands ranked second after Singapore with a total investment of USD 1.198 billion in 32 projects, accounting for 11.1 percent of the total foreign investment in Indonesia based on data from the Coordinating Investment Board last year.

Furthermore, each businessman actually hoped for legal certainty to protect their investment and the availability of adequate infrastructures for their businesses. Such legal certainty did not only include clear and consistent regulations but also transparency in their implementation.

"We see so many reforms have been made by the government of Indonesia in its bureaucracy in the past few years. Considering the reform was not conducted simultaneously, some institutions are seen as having made more progress than others," he said.