Jakarta (ANTARA News/Asia Pulse) - Four Australian companies plan to invest a combined total of more than US$1 billion in Indonesia this year, an official said. Mining and construction company Thiess, which already has a stake in the mining sector, would take part in the Trans-Java toll road project, Gita Wirjawan, the head of the investment agency (BKPM) said.

The United States sees vast potential to expand trade with Indonesia but Jakarta needs to undertake economic reforms, a top official said ahead of President Barack Obama's visit next week. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said Wednesday the administration saw major opportunities in the energy sector as Indonesia seeks to meet a sharp rise in demand while curbing carbon emissions blamed for global warming. "Indonesia is going to be a vast, steady market for green technologies.

Royal Dutch Shell’s Chief Executive 0fficer Peter Voser said Indonesia is now a target for his company’s investment portfolio in both the upstream and downstream hydrocarbon sectors. “We have been in talks with state oil company Pertamina and the government, offering them our technology and experiences to develop energy projects such as floating LNG plant,” Voser told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday in London.

Four Australian companies have agreed to invest a combined total of more than $1 billion in Indonesia this year, Gita Wirjawan, chairman of the Investment Coordinating Board, said on Wednesday. Gita, who had just returned from Australia, said the companies were Coca-Cola Amatil, mining and construction company Thiess, Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Ramsay Health Care, Australia’s largest private hospital group.

The government has backed away from a plan to allow foreign companies to invest in the domestic telecommunication-tower sector, despite warnings from the country’s investment czar that investment by local companies will not be sufficient. The government was said in January to be finalizing revisions to its “negative investment list” that would open five new sectors to foreign investment, including telecom towers.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States hopes President Barack Obama's visit next week to Indonesia will help spur reforms that boost trade with Southeast Asia's largest economy and the world's fourth most populous nation. "Economic nationalism, regulatory uncertainty and unresolved investment disputes give pause to American companies seeking to do business in Indonesia," U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke said in a speech on Wednesday.

Eight companies have applied for permits to import alcoholic drinks after the government’s decision late last year to end the monopoly previously awarded to state firm PT Sarinah, a minister has said. “Eight companies have applied. But we haven’t made a decision. It will be decided soon,” Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu said Monday after a cabinet meeting at the State Palace.

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:The Chairman of the Investment Coordinating Board Gita Wirjawan has emphasized that revision to foreign ownership term of property in Indonesia is urgently needed. According to Gita, foreign ownership of only 25 years is considered too short and not as competitive as other products, like properties offered by neighboring countries. Even though the term can be extended, the offer is still not interesting enough.

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: The Economic Ministry has reaffirmed government's perspective in investment policy changes which will determine the stake of foreign investment in Indonesia especially in telecommunication sector. While the investment management agency warned the government over the consequences of foreign investment block.