Indonesia is opening its doors again to more investment with the holding of the 2012 Investment Summit in Jakarta.

Indonesia's foreign direct investment rose 30.3 percent on an annual basis to US$11.9 billion in the first half of this year.

But the government wants to do more to improve its investment climate to become one of the world's top 10 economies by 2025.

Over 500 participants from around the world are in Jakarta to discuss the problems and opportunities of investing in Indonesia.

And the focus is on sectors such as infrastructure, consumer goods, tourism and hospitality, mining, natural resources and food processing.

Participants are trying to build on the booming investment environment.

Earlier this year, ratings agencies Moody's and Fitch raised Indonesia's credit rating to investment grade status, while a 2011 BBC survey named Indonesia as the best place in the world to start a business.

Indonesian vice-president Mr Boediono said: "I can only assure you that the government remains fully committed to systematically improve the business and investment environment in the country. For this I strongly urge that effective channels of communication between the business community and the government be maintained and enhanced."

However he acknowledged that the government needs to address pressing problems such as inadequate infrastructure, legal uncertainties and training of the labour force.

With over 117 million workers, Indonesia has the fifth largest work force in the world.

In the past month, some of this workforce has been mired in strikes, demanding better pay and work conditions.

But Dr Boediono said the protests are a product of democracy and that striking a balance between the interests of businesses and labour welfare remains one of the government's top priorities.

Another priority is to ensure that processes for foreign investors are transparent.

One of the steps the government is taking to assure foreign investors is a new online tracking system.

It gives investors a reference number that helps them to track down the status of their business licence applications online.

Applicants can simply go to the Investment Coordinating Board website through their PC, tablets or smart phones.

Chatib Basri, Chairman of the Indonesian Investment Coordinating Board, said: "If one day investors face a problem, they can come to our office and say, look my documents are stuck at this desk for about two days. This will force the Investment Coordinating Board to work more efficiently as the investors can directly monitor the application process."

With these efforts, Indonesia hopes to attract some US$468 billion in investments in the course of the next 14 years.

channelnewsasia.com