TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesian President Joko Widodo or Jokowi has started to prepare for Indonesia's full membership in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) this year. The government believed that the membership would improve the country’s investment climate.

Today, May 28, he received a visit from OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann at the Bogor Presidential Palace on Tuesday, May 28.

Airlangga Hartarto, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs and Chief of the Acceleration of OECD Membership, stated that this membership accession would be integrated with Indonesia's medium-term development.

He explained that the government would conduct a self-assessment process by submitting a memorandum within the next 250 days. “As discussed earlier, the OECD will also support the semiconductor ecosystem and learn how ASEAN is implementing the Digital Economic Roadmap Framework Agreement process,” he said in a statement after the meeting.

The OECD will also study the Indonesian economy to help improve the investment climate. In a separate statement at the Jakarta Palace last week, Airlangga said the review memorandum would consist of documents covering the entire OECD steering committee, in several fields such as finance, economics, anti-corruption, and healthy competition, as well as detailed consumer policy and digital technology.

Having been one of the key partner countries since 2007, the Indonesian government is pushing for full OECD membership. In 2014, Indonesia co-chaired the OECD's regional program for ASEAN with Japan. Jokowi targeted Indonesia to be an OECD member within three years.

“Indonesia will be on par with OECD countries in developing regulations so that investors will feel comfortable to increase their investments in Indonesia,” he remarked.

In the meeting with the OECD Secretary-General, President Jokowi was accompanied by Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto, Minister of State Secretary Pratikno, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Pahala Mansury, and Deputy Minister of Finance Suahasil Nazara. The Indonesian Ambassador to France, Andorra, and Monaco, Mohamad Oemar, who is the Permanent Delegate of the Republic of Indonesia to UNESCO, was also present.

DANIEL A. FAJRI

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