Joint European Luncheon with Vice President Jusuf Kalla

In his speech at the luncheon of the joint European chambers of commerce, Vice President Jusuf Kalla acknowledged the problems in the investment climate, but said was also a matter of a too negative perception, and that in fact security, infrastructure and strict labour laws are also an issue in Europe. He gave no indication that the labour laws would be amended before the next elections. He defended the verdicts in the cases of Temasek (monopolistic pricing in mobile telecommunications) and Newmont(environmental pollution), and said that Indonesia was following international practice. He said also that Indonesia is already liberal and open enough to foreign trade and investment. He stated that Indonesia's is actively cracking down on corruption and that it will use Special Economic Zones to create areas with little bureaucracy. He has also asked the Governor of Jakarta to come up, within a month, with a comprehensive planagainst the traffic jams. (www.ekon.go.id)