GE announced Monday on the sidelines of a meeting between Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo, and U.S. President Barack Obama in the United States that the firm will allocate part of the up to $1 billion in investment in the Southeast Asian country in the latter’s oil and gas sector. “And with the largest population in Southeast Asia, we are the largest economy in Southeast Asia and Indonesia intends to join the TPP”, said Mr. Widodo. Indonesia doesn’t count itself among nations contesting for islands in the disputed South China Sea, although it is concerned that China’s expansive maritime claims extend to the waters of Indonesia’s Natuna Islands, where Indonesian officials say they want more USA investment.
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In a joint statement, the two presidents called for all parties to refrain from actions that raise tensions, but did not mention China by name. They affirmed the importance of freedom of navigation and overflight.
President Joko Widodo, (JOH-koh WEE-doh-doh) swept to power past year on a wave of popular support. However, this is also the main obstacle for Indonesia to join the deal as law enforcement regarding intellectual property protection is very weak, while the country has also implemented several restrictions on imports and exports as well as introducing local content requirements (in other words implementing a more protectionist approach).
The Indonesian government said earlier yesterday Widodo would be cutting short his trip to the United States in order to address the “haze crisis” caused by forest fires.Widodo linked the fires to the effects of climate change felt by Indonesia. His schedule in Washington will go ahead as planned, but he’ll skip a stop in San Francisco and will fly home on Tuesday afternoon. The US business community has complained that economic protectionism makes it hard to do business in Indonesia.
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Mr. Obama, who lived in Indonesia with his mother and stepfather for about four years while he was in elementary school, made a brief reference in his remarks to reporters about “helping Indonesia deal with the current difficulties surrounding peat fires”. Fire emissions have already passed Japan’s annual greenhouse gas emissions and by the end of the year, the fires could account for up to 3 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions from all human activities.
