Jakarta (ANTARA News) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono held a cabinet meeting to discuss national economic developments especially the implementation of the master-plan for the Indonesian economic development and expansion (MP3EI).

"The progress of MP3EI, its implementation until today, is important to assure the development in the six corridors to go as planned as it is needed to keep the economy to continue to grow and to reduce poverty and spread growth to across the Indonesian region," he said when opening the meeting here on Wednesday.

President Yudhoyono said although some of the projects had been started but the progress of the program must continue to be monitored to assure its implementation.

"If investment and economy grow more jobs will be created. I wish to see what jobs can be created for the next three years and especially in 2012," he said.

Besides discussing the progress of the MP3EI program the meeting also discussed the implementation of pro-people programs such as pro-jobs, pro-growth, pro-poor and pro-environment programs.

"The implementation of the four clusters of the pro-people program is important to assure our economy will not only grow but also reduce poverty," he said.

The head of state said "the effectiveness of the programs must be maintained and must always be evaluated and if in-effectiveness is found improvements must be made."

The meeting was attended by vice president Boediono, all cabinet ministers and presidential advisory board members and other officials.

Bank Indonesia governor Darmin Nasution in a different occasion meanwhile called for immediate infrastructure improvements.

In his speech at a seminar on next steps after investment grade status here on Wednesday he said structural problems in the field of economy are still big and have to be settled immediately especially in the field of infrastructure both hard and soft infrastructure namely human resources.

The hard infrastructure needed improvements include roads, ports and electricity while the soft one covers science, health, environment and education including creating conducive environment for the development of innovations.

The progress in the implementation of the policy int he field will be a key factor to the reduction of inflation as it will widen the economic capacity.
(T.P008*F008/H-YH/HAJM/O001)

Editor: Priyambodo RH
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