The twenty-first APEC Economic Leaders Meeting, chaired by Indonesia's president Bambang Susilo Yudhoyono, has been concluded and in the words of the president the Summit "went on successfully and was indeed very productive." During the two-day Summit the central theme of APEC 2013: “Resilient Asia-Pacific, Engine of Global Growth” was discussed thoroughly and a number of strategic points were agreed upon. Seven of these points are highlighted in the APEC joint statement‏, delivered by Yudhoyono on Tuesday (08/10).

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The APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC), a permanent high-level business advisory group that is created by the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), has given five recommendations to the 21 member countries of the APEC. These recommendations involve regional economic integration, sustainable development, entrepreneurship as well as small and medium enterprises (SMEs), an economic and banking forum, and lastly, a dialogue in the industry sector concerning scientific innovation.

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Kawasan Industri Jababeka is an Indonesian industrial estate developer that also has stakes in the country's power generation and infrastructure sectors. Between 70 and 80 percent of the company's total sales are derived from its real estate sales. Currently, the company owns strategic land banks on three locations in Indonesia (all on the island of Java): Kota Jababeka, Cilegon Industrial Park, and Tanjung Lesung. Kawasan Industri Jababeka was the first publicly listed industrial estate developer in Indonesia.

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The realization of infrastructure projects through the Indonesian government's public-private partnership (PPP) scheme is yet to bear fruit. Up to this day, PPP infrastructure projects in Indonesia are still constrained by the difficulty of land acquisition, regulatory uncertainties and lack of funding. These investments projects are not among the most popular investment projects of private investors because they usually involve expensive (and risky) investments as well as patience while waiting for return of investment.

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About one week ahead of the APEC Economic Leaders' Week in Bali, Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono inaugurated the 12.7-kilometer long toll road in Bali on Monday (23/09). The toll road, which runs almost entirely on viaducts above the sea, consists of a north-south route from the city of Denpasar to Nusa Dua, as well as a branch to the Denpasar airport (Ngurah Rai International Airport) and a connection to the port of Benoa. Operator of the Bali toll road is Jasamarga Bali Toll, a consortium of state-controlled companies.

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With the development of a production hub for low cost green cars (LCGCs), Indonesia hopes to become the leading car producer within the group of ASEAN nations. Total car sales in ASEAN in 2012 surpassed the three million cars mark. The two largest contributors to these sales were Thailand (1.3 million sold cars) and Indonesia (1.1 million). Currently, Thailand is still the largest car production hub in the ASEAN region, both in terms of production rate and domestic sales (despite having only 60 million citizens to Indonesia's 240 million).

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Indonesia's Ministry of Transportation has issued a temporary moratorium on the issuance of permits for the establishment of new airlines in Indonesia. A spokesman of the Ministry said that airports will become too crowded if more applications are approved. Overcrowded airports will result in more flight delays and entails risks for safety. An increase in flight frequency of already established airlines is still permitted. The Ministry is also concerned that if more permits are issued, current rife competition between airlines will intensify.

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Indonesia's Ngurah Rai Airport on the idyllic island of Bali is now the country's largest airport in terms of passenger capacity. Being newly renovated, it can handle 25 million passengers per year. As such, it has surpassed Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, located just outside Jakarta (Java), and the new Kuala Namu airport in Medan (Sumatra), which have passenger capacities of 22 million and 8.1 million respectively. However, after renovation of terminal three at Soekarno-Hatta will be finished, Ngurah Rai is to lose its top spot again.

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Jasa Marga is a state-controlled toll road operator that constructs and provides toll road services in Indonesia. Approximately 73 percent of total toll roads in Indonesia are operated by Jasa Marga, which makes this company the dominant player in Indonesia's toll road sector. Up to the end of 2012, the company has 22 toll road concessions - with a total length of 545 kilometer - in operation and 193 kilometer of toll road that is expected to become operational between 2013 and 2016.

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The total value of investments in the Masterplan for Acceleration and Expansion of Indonesia's Economic Development (MP3EI) between 2011 - when the Masterplan was first introduced - and July 2013 amounted to IDR 647.46 trillion (USD $58.86 billion). Coordinating Economic Minister Hatta Rajasa said this to state-owned news agency Antara. State-owned enterprises invested a total of IDR 173.63 trillion, followed by the private sector with IDR 231.88 trillion, the government with IDR 99 trillion and public-private partnerships with IDR 143.12 trillion.

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A total of twenty Japanese companies engaged in the food and beverage industry are exploring investment opportunities in Indonesia. According to research conducted by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the food and beverage industry of Indonesia is regarded as a lucrative investment opportunity by these companies. If realized, these foreign direct investments could be worth between USD $400 million to USD $1 billion. However, JICA’s research did not mention any names of the Japanese companies.

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The plantation sector of Indonesia is vulnerable to land disputes. Noor Marzuki, a Director at the National Land Agency (Badan Pertanahan Nasional, or BPN), a non-departmental government institution, said that currently only 30 percent of Indonesia's total plantation estate area has been registered at the BPN. This implies that 70 percent of Indonesian plantation estates are unregistered and thus susceptible to land conflicts. The total size of Indonesia's plantation estate area is 120 million hectares.

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Regarding stock trading on the Indonesia Stock Exchange, investors who focused on property, banking and infrastructure stocks have made the highest profit so far in 2014. Although all sectoral indices that are contained within the benchmark stock index of Indonesia, known as the Jakarta Composite Index (abbreviated IHSG) have shown a good performance, the three aforementioned sectoral indices stand out as the country's top performers. Indonesia's IHSG has risen 16.14 percent between 1 January and 26 May 2014.

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Indonesian cement sales fell 0.4 percent (year-on-year) to 4.52 million tons in April 2014. The decline in cement sales was the result of the country’s legislative election that was held on 9 April 2014 as consumers bought few building materials during the campaign period. Head of the Indonesian Cement Association (ASI) Widodo Santoso stated that a number of large infrastructure projects are currently being tendered and are thus unable to boost domestic cement sales yet.

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As rapid economic development has pushed the percentage of people working in most East Asian countries to among the highest in the world, policy makers should enact labor regulations and social protection policies to benefit all workers, including those in the large informal economy, according to a new World Bank report, East Asia Pacific at Work: Employment, Enterprise and Well-Being (released on 8 May 2014). Current regulations, however, favor salaried, prime-age males at the expense of women and youth.

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The Indonesian government is still studying the feasibility study for the National Capital Integrated Coastal Development (NCICD) masterplan. The NCICD masterplan, a joint project between the governments of Indonesia and the Netherlands, aims to protect the capital city of Jakarta against floods caused by high tides and faciliates sustainable development of Jakarta. The masterplan is developed by a consortium headed by Witteveen+Bos (main contractor) and Grontmij, with subconsultants KuiperCompagnons, Deltares, Ecorys and Triple-A.

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Fitch Ratings, one of the three major global credit rating agencies, said that its latest annual survey on economic prospects and the business climate in Indonesia indicates an optimistic view. Respondents in the survey, mostly CEOs and Division Heads at financial institutions, companies, government and media, were asked 11 questions about the Indonesian economy, reformation and prospects for the next five years. Andrew Steel, Managing Director Head of Asia Pacific Corporate Ratings Group, presented results of the survey.

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Imports of oil will accelerate to 1.6 million barrels per day (bpd) by 2020 if fuels continue to be subsidized by the Indonesian government. This development will seriously burden Indonesia's trade balance (and current account). In 2013, Indonesia posted a trade deficit of USD $12.6 billion in the oil & gas sector. Due to improved performance in the non-oil & gas sector, the overall trade deficit was kept at USD $4.06 billion. Besides placing downward pressure on the rupiah exchange rate, expensive subsidies also burden the state budget.

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Tourism in Indonesia has posted impressive growth rates in recent years. This development is due to the fact that Indonesia has plenty of beautiful sites and cultural traditions to offer to foreign (and domestic) tourists, improved airline accessibility to Indonesia, and enhanced focus on promotional campaigns in foreign countries. Lastly, and not unimportantly, there have been no violent terrorist attacks in recent years. In the 2000s, a vicious terrorist attack always resulted in a temporary drop in foreign tourist arrivals.

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In 2015, Indonesia's Ministry of Public Works will start with the land acquisition process for the construction of the Trans-Sumatra Highway. This highway is a 2,732.2 kilometers-long toll road connecting Banda Aceh in the north of Sumatra to Bandar Lampung in the south through 23 routes that connect ten provinces. The total land area that needs to be acquired is roughly 218,976 million m² and is expected to cost around IDR 15 trillion (USD $1.3 billion). By 2025, construction of the project should be finished.

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