Nusa Dua, Bali - Indonesian Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan said countries in the Southeast Asian region should harmonize their investment policies towards the ASEAN Economic Community in 2015.

     "This forum is good for conveying the message and desire that we should cooperate and act collectively," Gita Wirjawan said when he opened an ASEAN Investment Forum as part of the ASEAN Summit here on Wednesday.

     He said that harmonizing investment policies ere expected to enable other countries to invest in Southeast Asia and and this would also influence the scale of investment of the ASEAN member nations themselves.

     The minister said he realized that not all of the ASEAN members have the same level of development while at present uncertainty as a result of the European and the United States economic crisis still existed. This crisis would have an impact on trade and investment flows of other countries in the world.

     Previously, General Chairman of the Indonesian Businessmen Association (Apindo) Sofjan Wanandi said that the government should be able to net as many as possible investors to Indonesia in the current business and investment forums held in line with the 19th ASEAN summit.

     "The ASEAN Business and Investment Summit held on November 16-18, 2011 is expected to be utilized for showing to foreign investors that Indonesia`s investment climate is becoming increasingly interesting," Sofjan Wanandi said.The 19th ASEAN Summit is expected to be attended by heads of state/government of Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Mynamar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

–Antara, 17 November 2011 –

        
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