TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The European Union (EU) and the Indonesian government will discuss investment plans in the fifth European Union-Indonesia Business Dialogue (EIBD) on November 19, 2014, as reported by Antara News.

"EIBD is an annual forum held by Indoensian and European business leaders. EIBD is to identify and create new opportunities to promote investment and trade between EU and Indonesia," stated EU ambassador to Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam, and ASEAN Olof Skoog on Friday.

Olof said that the EU wanted to know more about the opinions of the new government of Indonesia of business role of the EU in Indonesia's economic development.

He said the economic growth target of 7 percent set by President Joko Widodo would certainly need investment.

"The investment would have domino effect on job opportunity, and gross domestic products (GDP) and could reduce the need for imports," he said.

EU economic and trade adviser Harvey Rouse said currently the EU is the largest investor in Indonesia, with total investment of US$3.2 billion in 2014, followed by Japan with investment totaling US$2 billion.

"We are higher than Japan and China," Harvey said.

Olof said the EU welcomes President Jokowis plan to reduce red tape and give investment guarantee in Indonesia.

"That is one of the attractions for us, certainty in long term investment and investment facility," he said.

In the future, EU member countries would invest more in five strategic sectors -- automotive industry; agriculture, food and beverage; infrastructure, marine and logistics; pharmaceuticals and cosmetics and energy and renewable energy.

He said the EU supports the visions of President Joko Widodo to make Indonesia a strong maritime country.

"We want to support the visions of President Jokowi about the worlds maritime axis. For that purpose a big investment is needed in the infrastructure sector," he said.

The EIBD Conference 2014 is held by the European Union-Indonesia Business Network (EIBN) and Indonesian business community such as the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) and the Association of Indonesian Businessmen (Apindo).

The conference is also supported by five European chambers of commerce in Indonesia -- BritCham, EKONID, EuroCham, IFCCI, and INA.

ANTARA NEWS