“We will introduce Indonesia’s ambition to become a Southeast Asian center of growth in the digital economy”, Widodo said.
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Tami Overby, senior vice president for Asia at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said that regional competition for foreign investment will grow more fierce when the U.S.-backed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal is ratified and takes effect, likely in a couple of years.
The two leaders are expected to discuss climate change.
According to calculations by researchers at the VU University Amsterdam, since September 26, daily emissions from Indonesia’s fires exceeded daily emissions from the entire United States economy, which is 20 times larger than Indonesia’s.
Widodo expressed his concern about the difficulties in extinguishing the fires, which forced him to cut short his visit to the USA and return to Indonesia to tackle the crisis.
Information from The Washington Post was included in this story.
Other countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and Japan have sent assistance to help Indonesia fighting the forest fires.
“In principle, we come here as a big country, so it is hoped that our visit to the United States of America will bring benefits not only to both countries but also to the world”, she said, asserting that economic issues would be prioritized in Jokowi’s U.S. trip, which will end on October. 30.
The agency estimated at least half a million people have suffered from respiratory illness since the fires started in July and 43 million people have been affected in the islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan. Under pressure from its neighbours to stop the annual haze, Indonesian President Joko Widodo has pledged to crack down on companies and individuals behind the burnings, which are a cheap but harmful way of clearing vast tracts of land for plantations.
Indonesia and the region have been suffering for weeks from haze caused by smouldering forest fires in Sumatra and Borneo that authorities have struggled to contain.
Late last week the haze spread to southern Thailand, with record high pollution levels.
Indonesia’s national weather agency, however, reported that three-quarters of the country had since been affected by the haze, albeit in varying degrees.
“He should stay here (in Indonesia) and handle the haze”, Yusril said.
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“As we have said from the beginning, TPP is meant to be an open platform to which other countries who are able and willing to meet the standards can potentially accede”, he said.
