He made the statement at the 26th ASEAN Investment Area (AIA) Council Meeting in Semarang, Central Java, Saturday (August 19), which was attended by all ASEAN members and representatives of the United Nation Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
The investment flow to developing countries has increased by 4 percent, in stark contrast to global and developed countries' investment inflows, the minister said in a statement obtained here on Sunday.
"Investment flows to Southeast Asia have even increased by up to 5 percent, surpassing the global level and developed countries. Southeast Asian ministers have succeeded in attracting investment to this region," he elaborated.
UNCTAD in the Special ASEAN Investment Report (AIR) 2023 reveals that the ASEAN investment growth in 2022 has reached its highest record at 5 percent with inflows of FDI into the region reaching US$224 billion.
Meanwhile global investment flows fell by up to 12 percent in the same year due mainly to overlapping global crises – the war in Ukraine, high food and energy prices, and soaring public debt. The decline in investment growth was felt mostly in developed countries, the report said.
However, Lahadalia emphasized the importance of prioritizing the principle of equity in investment because most of the FDI flows are only enjoyed by less than 1 percent of the ASEAN population.
"The concentration of FDI in a handful of groups will threaten the unity of ASEAN in the future. In 2022, 60 percent of FDI that enters ASEAN can only be enjoyed by less than 1 percent of the ASEAN population," he said.
"In the future, ASEAN needs to foster more concrete collaboration to promote and facilitate investment so that ASEAN can truly become one community, one home, one family," he said.
The 26th AIA Council Meeting which is part of the ASEAN Economic Ministers' (AEM) Meeting was attended by representatives from ten ASEAN countries dealing with investment issues.
UNCTAD is supported by the Government of Indonesia in preparing the 2023 Special ASEAN Investment Report (AIR) study.
The study contains the theme International Investment Trends: Key Issues and policy options, which discusses global FDI trends and policies related to FDI in the world, new issues that have arisen, as well as policy choices related to new issues.
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Translator: Ade irma Junida, Katriana
Editor: Sri Haryati
Copyright © ANTARA 2023
