"With infrastructure in place, our competitive power will increase, our efficiency will improve and cost of goods and services will come down," Jokowi said.
Wonogiri, C Java (ANTARA News) - President Joko Widodo highlighted the importance of infrastructure and work ethics in the current era on Friday, terming them the key to beating competition.

"With infrastructure in place, our competitive power will increase, our efficiency will improve and cost of goods and services will come down," he said in his address at the launch of an investment program to create employment.

He also inaugurated PT Nesia Pan Pacific Clothing factory and the Surakarta Academy of Textile and Textile Products Industrial Community in Ketonggo, Kerjo Lor village, Ngadirejo, Wonogiri, Central Java.

He said it cannot be denied any more that this is the era of competition and without strong competitive power, Indonesia will be left behind by other countries. Also, infrastructure development alone is not enough to beat the competition.

"Unless it is accompanied by work ethics and high productivity, we will not be able to compete," he said.

With regard to the government sector, he said improvement in work ethics should be reflected in quick licensing process. "I want the licensing process to take only hours to finish," he said.

President Joko Widodo also ordered reducing the number of permits required in order to increase the countrys Ease of Doing Business ranking which now stands at 109.

He said he wanted the ranking to improve and go beyond 40. "It has so far fluctuated between 110 and 129. I do not want that to happen anymore. I want it to be at 40," he said.

To achieve this target, he said a number of regulations and rules must be scrapped. "We have too many regulations and rules. There are 42,000 of them," he said.

He said rules and regulations that pose difficulties to industrial investors must be scrapped, adding that "thousands of regulations have made us unable to work with while it is we who have made these."

"So much so that we have 3,000 problematic local regulations. These must be cut. There is no need to study them and they must be scrapped if they are only posing difficulties to the people," he said.

The head of Capital Investment Coordinating Board, Franky Sibarani, said in 2015, investment grew by 17.8 percent, reaching Rp545.4 trillion and absorbing 1.44 workers.

President Joko Widodo was flanked by Industry Minister Saleh Husin, Minister of Research and Technology M Nasir, Chief of Presidential Staff, Teten Masduki, Deputy Finance Minister Mardiasmo and Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo. (*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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