JAKARTA – The vision of Joko Widodo’s government to develop maritime sector attracts foreign investors to Indonesia, for example the investors from Norway. They intended to make investment in fishery sector next year.
Norway has advanced fishery industry. KONTAN’s research stated the contribution of Norway’s maritime and fishery (KP) sector to gross domestic product (GDP) is almost 30% higher than Indonesia which is less than 20%. Whereas, Norway is categorized as a small country with less sea area than Indonesia.
Norway Ambassador for Indonesia, Stig Traavik, said Norwegian investors still await the certainty from Indonesian government to enter which part of KP industry business sector. “Will they enter maritime and fishery technology or improve supply and equipment by building cold storages?” Stig told KONTAN last weekend.
The investment in terms of technology is to improve nautical technology for fish capturing or surveillance. Stig said Norwegian investors promised to transfer the knowledge from its experts to Indonesia so Indonesia can run the technology itself.
Every year, Norway investment to Indonesia is averagely USD 200 million. However, at certain time, Norway investment is really high up to USD 300 million since Norwegian investors build floating storage re-gasification unit (FSRU).
The investment from Norway in Indonesia is in oil and gas sectors through an oil firm named Statoil. Moreover, in technology field, the technology for electronic road pricing in Jakarta comes from Q-Free, a Norway firm.
An economist who is also the former presidential spokesman for economy, Fizh Firmanzah, said Jokowi’s government must immediately respond the needs of investors. Fizh said the expectation was also delivered by some investors in London and Paris he met last week.
According to Fizh, currently, investors queue to make investment in Indonesia. They have met with officials but the bureaucracy has not made quick moves yet. (Kontan)
