"Even though the flow of investment to ASEAN is very big, our goal is not only to increase investment values. Most importantly, these investments should be able to realize sustainable development goals (SDGs) in the region," he remarked at the 2023 ASEAN Investment Forum titled "Investments for Sustainable Development" in Jakarta on Saturday.
According to Lahadalia, investment can be successful if people in the country feel the positive effects of investment.
"In my opinion, in any country, investment can have a positive systemic impact if the people are included in experiencing the positive effects of the investment," he noted.
On that occasion, Lahadalia said the world is currently experiencing turbulence due to the ongoing geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine, the slowing global economy, and climate change.
"We do not know when the war between Russia and Ukraine will be over. However, amid all these difficulties, ASEAN cannot lose its hope as has been stated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). ASEAN is a beam of light amid a dark horizon," the minister remarked.
He noted that the average economic growth for ASEAN countries in 2022 had reached 5.6 percent.
"This excludes Timor-Leste. While in the last decade, the average annual economic growth of ASEAN countries reached 3.98 percent above the average global economic growth of 2.6 percent. In 2022, the total ASEAN GDP reached US$3.9 trillion, a five-fold increase in the last 20 years," he stated.
He remarked that one of the keys to ASEAN's rapid economic growth is investment.
"Investment is one of the keys to achieving prosperity," he affirmed.
Despite global foreign direct investment (FDI) having declined by 12 percent in 2022, the minister noted that the FDI in ASEAN actually increased by five percent, reaching US$224.2 billion.
"This is the highest in the history of ASEAN. With this figure, ASEAN is the second-largest recipient of FDI in the world," he revealed.
Translator: Benardy Ferdiansyah, Resinta S
Editor: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
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