In an Indonesian Business Discussion, initiated by the Indonesian Embassy in Oslo, Norway, participants reviewed opportunities in Indonesia for business expansion and investment by Norwegian businesses.
According to a press statement from the embassy received by Antara here on Wednesday, the event is a follow up to the earlier bilateral meeting between the Indonesian and Norwegian Foreign Affairs Ministers in Jakarta on May 30, 2016.
In that meeting, the two officials agreed to improve cooperation on trade and investment.
Indonesian Special Ambassador for Trade and Investment, Sony Subrata, along with representatives of 13 top companies, have reviewed opportunities and challenges faced by Indonesia in the field of maritime, shipping, fisheries, renewable energy, transportation, energy, infrastructure, oil and gas exploration and fertilizer.
The representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway, along with the Norway Innovation and Investment Promotion Agency and the Special Unit of the Central Bank of Norway, which manages the oil fund, attended the meeting.
The Norwegian businesses representatives said they appreciated the progressive steps taken by the Indonesian government in recent years, particularly in improving business and investment climates.
They asked the Indonesian government to continue strengthening such actions regarding improving the business environment, such as in law enforcement, regulatory certainty, infrastructure development and anti-corruption efforts.
Earlier, President Joko Widodo invited businesses from the Nordic countries to invest in Indonesia, including Norway.
Norway has advanced technologies in the field of aquaculture, oil exploration, renewable energy, and maritime industries.
Further, Norway has an oil fund of some US$900 billion. These funds are invested abroad in the form of fixed income, government bonds and real estate purchases.
In Indonesia, Norway has invested approximately US$ 3 billion from its oil fund.
Indonesia and Norway have a dialogue mechanism, including in the fields of energy, human rights and security policies.
