Indonesia and UK to Improve Economic Ties Between The Two Nations

Indonesian President Joko Widodo and the visiting British Prime Minister David Cameron have expressed their commitment to improve economic ties between the two nations.

Addressing a joint press conference in Jakarta, Cameron said, “The UK is the fifth-largest foreign investor in Indonesia. We're natural business partners, but there's much more that we can do.”

Cameron said leading engineering and energy companies from the UK could help Indonesia in executing Jokowi's infrastructure plan.

He also expressed UK's full support to the Asean Economic Community as it would “boost trade not just within countries of the region, but between regions and the rest of the world”.

Separately, speaking at the UK-Indonesia Business Forum, Cameron said Britain can easily increase its investment in Indonesia.

During his visit Cameron announced that the UK government would make available up to 1 billion pounds of export finance credit to the Southeast Asian nation.

However, UK trade and investment minister Francis Maude, said that businesses had their concerns about tariffs on imported products in Indonesia and also about non-tariff barriers.

Cameron, who was accompanied by representatives of 30 major UK companies, said that UK's corporate tax rate is now the lowest in the G20, and his government is slashing business taxes as well.

As per the data with the Indonesia Investment Coordinating Board, the UK was the fifth-largest foreign investor in Indonesia last year with investments of $1.6 billion. In the first half of 2015, investment of about $425 million has come from the UK.