By: Wahyu Primary )*
From 20 to 24 March 2022 in Nusa Dua, Bali, the 144th Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU) meeting was held which was attended by 1,000 participants from 115 countries, 173 national parliaments and 11 associations of parliamentary organizations. IPU was founded in 1889 and is an international organization that accommodates the parliaments of sovereign countries to resolve conflicts in the world and then bring these aspirations to be resolved in multilateral negotiations.
In addition to discussing the resolution of conflicts in the world through multilateral forums, the IPU meeting is also expected to increase cooperation in the economic field so that participating countries can achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (TPB).
In carrying out the TPB agenda, IPU is very focused on achieving alleviating Poverty and Economic Disparities, Use of Clean and Affordable Energy, Decent Work and Economic Growth, Increasing Industrialization, Innovation and Infrastructure Development, Sustainable Economic Development, Maintenance of Marine and Land Ecosystems and Handling Change Climate.
Chairman of the Agency for Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation (BKSAP), Fadli Zon, said diplomacy can also be used for trade or economic activities. Indonesia will use the forum to establish diplomacy with various countries, including Iran. Relations between the two countries are already quite close, because both parliaments are also members of the IPU.
The Algerian Ambassador to the Republic of Indonesia (RI), Lahcene Kaid-Slimane said that his party was increasing bilateral cooperation with Indonesia, especially in the economic sector.
Meanwhile, Deputy Chairman of BKSAP, Putu Supadma, said that the sustainability of the IPU would affect the wheels of the economy, which had been stopped due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Various tourist destinations on the island of Bali will again be visited by tourists from abroad. In addition, it is not only the tourism sector that will increase due to the IPU agenda, it is estimated that the MSME sector in Bali will also be helped.
The positive prospects of the Indonesian economy in the eyes of foreign countries must be maintained, to increase investment interest in Indonesia. Through the IPU Cooperation Forum, the Government has demonstrated structural reforms to improve the investment climate, one of which is the issuance of Law Number 11 of 2020 concerning Job Creation. The regulation aims to create jobs, increase foreign and domestic investment by providing security guarantees, legal certainty and ease of regulatory requirements for business licenses.
The Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Airlangga Hartarto, emphasized the importance of the Job Creation Law, which will encourage investment and will also encourage the involvement of national MSMEs in economic activities. This ease of investment is driven by the digitization of licensing by using the Online Single Subsimission (OSS) application. In addition, the Government also continues to make improvements to this system, by improving the quality of Human Resources (HR) both in Ministries and Institutions as well as in Regional Governments, so that the operations of OSS can be accessed easily and quickly by the public.
The 144th IPU meeting in Nusa Dua, Bali should be used as a momentum to increase cooperation in the economic sector, especially investment to increase per capita income, advance the country in the long term and reduce unemployment. During the IPU meeting, the government also demonstrated the success of structural reforms in facilitating the business licensing process, through the Job Creation Law.
Once again, the Job Creation Law is the government’s effort to generate positive sentiment among business actors regarding the prospects for the Indonesian economy, so that it can grow investment and the economy, as well as increase the absorption of productive workers.
)* The author is a Public Policy Observer