Beijing (ANTARA News) - US President Barack Obama has invited Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) to visit Washington to discuss further cooperation between the two countries.

Obama extended the invitation to Jokowi on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit here on Monday evening.

"I am pleased to meet Mr President and I hope we can strengthen our cooperation as well as personal relations," he said.

The US President also congratulated Jokowi on his inauguration as Indonesias seventh President on October 20, 2014.

In response, President Jokowi expressed his gratitude for the presence of US State Secretary John Kerry at his presidential inauguration.

Obama is not the only head of government who has invited President Jokowi to visit his country.

Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang, during his bilateral meeting with President Jokowi, also extended his invitations to him.

He expressed hope that President Jokowi and First Lady Iriana Joko Widodo would be able to visit Vietnam in the near future.

On the third day of his visit to Beijing, Jokowi had bilateral meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, US President Barack Obama, Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang, and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Earlier, at the APEC Summits CEO Forum, Jokowi offered investment opportunities to foreign firms in the infrastructure sector.

"We have a limited budget and therefore we offer investment opportunities to the participants of the APEC Summits CEO Forum to invest in the infrastructure sector in Indonesia," Jokowi announced during his presentation.

The Indonesian head of state remarked that of the Rp433.5 trillion set aside as subsidy in the draft state budget for 2015, Rp363.5 trillion will be allotted for energy subsidy and Rp70 trillion for non-energy subsidy.

Jokowi pointed out that the budget for subsidy will be allocated for irrigation, for the supply of provisions such as fishing boats and cold storage units to fishermen, and for the micro, small and medium enterprises sector, among other purposes.

"The subsidy is for all productive activities and not for consumptive ones while the remaining budget will be utilized in the education and infrastructure sectors," President Jokowi noted.

He encouraged foreign firms to invest in Indonesia as the country plans to build at least 24 ports and deep-sea ports in the next five years to support the flow of goods and services.

"One of them is the Tanjung Priok port, which had the capacity to handle activities worth US$3.6 billion in 2009. By 2017, the port is projected to witness activities worth US$15 billion," Jokowi affirmed.

He pointed out that the ports and deep sea ports will be built across several areas in Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Papua, in addition to the railway tracks in these islands.

President Jokowi also remarked that Indonesia was developing a mass rapid transport system and will continue to do so in the six major cities of Jakarta, Medan, Makassar, Semarang, Bandung, and Surabaya.

"Thus, investors will have a huge opportunity to invest in those sectors in Indonesia," Jokowi remarked.

(A014/INE/B003)
EDITED BY INE
(A014/KR-BSR/B003)





Editor: Jafar M Sidik
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