Jakarta. Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi on Wednesday met her Swiss counterpart Ignazio Cassis to pursue a speedy process in the ratification of a bilateral investment pact as soon as this year.
After seven rounds of negotiations since 2018, Indonesia and Switzerland last year inked a bilateral investment treaty set to better protect Swiss businesses when investing in Indonesia and vice versa.
In a joint press conference after her meeting with Cassis, Retno said that Switzerland was Indonesia’s second-largest European investor in 2021.
“To further boost investment partnership, I underlined the importance of ensuring the bilateral investment treaty can be ratified within this year. This treaty will provide legal protection and business certainty for our investors,” Retno told reporters.
As expected, Retno tried to get Swiss investors into Indonesia’s new capital city Nusantara whose funding mostly was set to come from the private sector.
“We would like to collaborate with Switzerland in the development of Indonesia’s new capital, Nusantara, especially in areas such as hospitality industries and higher education,” she said.
According to Cassis, there are over 150 Swiss companies currently operating in Indonesia. Switzerland also wants to see the bilateral investment treaty enter into force by the end of the year.
“Things are looking good on the economic side. We discussed how to create the best possible framework and conditions in order for the Swiss private sector to invest more in Indonesia [as well as] in the new capital,” he said.
According to the Indonesian government data, Switzerland became the 17th largest foreign investor out of 130 countries in Jan-June 2023. Foreign direct investment from Switzerland over the period totaled $95.2 million. Switzerland also invested in 427 projects in the first six months of this year.
In 2021, Indonesia attracted $599.8 million in FDI from Switzerland. These investments went to 281 projects.
Indonesia-Switzerland trade went up from almost $2 billion in 2021 to $2.8 billion the following year. Bilateral trade already totaled $1.5 billion in the first five months of 2023, the government reported.