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Southwest Papua seeks to drive up investments to the province

Entering its second year, the Southwest Papua Province continues to work to build a solid foundation for sustainable development in the future. One of its efforts is to encourage investments into the province. Last year, Southwest Papua recorded its investments reaching Rp2.56 trillion, exceeding its investment target of Rp3.1 trillion.

The Southwest Papuan economy also grew throughout 2023. Acting Southwest Papua Governor Mohammad Musa'ad said that the province has abundant natural resources, whether in the mining, marine capture fisheries, plantations, agriculture, or tourism sectors.

The province, Musa'ad continued, is also supported by an adequate trade and accommodation service sector with the presence of airports, ports, other infrastructure, and the Sorong Special Economic Zone that is located on the Asia Pacific and Australia international trade route. He added that the province's various potential investments are ready to be developed through cooperation, be it government-to-government (G2G), government-to-business (G2B), or government-to-citizen (G2C).

"I hope this forum will be the beginning for us to be open with the data [and] information we have so we can do something more," Musa'ad stated during the Harmonious Coffee Morning Sharing Session to Develop an Investment Climate in Southwest Papua Province Event to Develop an Investment Climate in Southwest Papua Province in Sorong City, Southwest Papua on Nov. 1, 2024.

He said that the Southwest Papua Provincial Government was given four main tasks, namely controlling inflation, ensuring that the prevalence of stunting is reduced, ensuring that extreme poverty is reduced, and ensure that the investment climate can develop positively.

"The provincial government must strive to increase investment to Southwest Papua," he said.

Meanwhile, Southwest Papua Investment and One-Stop Integrated Licensing Office (DPMPTSP) Secretary Herry Widjasena stated that almost 70 percent of the country's foreign exchange came from investment. Therefore, the Southwest Papua DPMPTSP is aggressively encouraging investment to grow quickly in Southwest Papua.

"Moreover, [since] we are a new province, there must be a transformation or leap [we must go through] whether we like it or not. So we encourage investment to start quickly in Southwest Papua," he explained.

However, Herry noted investment cannot start right away if there is no synergy and collaboration between various stakeholders, be it G2G, G2B, or G2C.

"Regional governments of [Southwest Papua's] regencies and cities must quickly identify the leading potential [investments] of their regions so we could promote them [since the Southwest Papua] DPMPTSP only acts as a showcase showcase that promotes the regencies' and cities' various products. We list the regions that have potential [investments] and bring them to business forums in Jakarta that will be attended by consulate-generals from various countries, such as Korea, Japan, Germany," he elaborated.

He added that increased investments to Southwest Papua would definitely have a multiplier effect that led to increased employment and economic growth.

"So the two things we are pushing today are the optimization of natural resources and connectivity. Because nothing can be transported without connectivity as Southwest Papua [aims to be] a region for services and trade," he concluded.

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