Removing Investment Barriers, Learning from MoUs with Partner Countries

In the 17th century, European trading ships undertook months-long voyages across the oceans to reach the Nusantara. They came not out of pity, nor friendship. They came because these islands held something that made the world willing to take great risks: economic value. The spices of the Nusantara were once a commodity that helped drive global trade. In the following centuries, coffee, sugar, tea, rubber, tin, oil, and various other products of the Dutch East Indies helped prop up the colonial economic power. In the most naked terms, the world has long known one thing: Indonesia is a valuable economic space. Four centuries later, the world is coming again. No longer with war fleets. No longer with trade monopolies. They come bringing capital, technology, investment, and memoranda of understanding. The United States, Japan, China, France, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Australia, Singapore, Russia, Brazil, India, and various other countries are racing to expand cooperation with Indonesia. In recent years alone, various MoUs, business deals, joint investment funds, and announced investment commitments have approached 175 billion US dollars. The actual figure is likely larger because not all agreements disclose their commercial value to the public. This value is equivalent to about eleven per cent of Indonesia’s current Gross Domestic Product.