“Australia is one of our neighboring countries, but ironically we have limited trade with it. As for the CEPA, President Joko Widodo gave me two years [to finish it], and we are intensively working on it,” he told thejakartapost.com on Thursday in Jakarta.

Lembong acknowledged that Indonesia lagged behind Vietnam and Philippines in market access. While enjoying a commodity boom, Indonesia neglected the downstream industry while the other countries worked hard to attract investors and create free trade access.

By entering into a CEPA and the Trans-Pacific Partnership ( TPP ), Vietnam has comparative advantages of a 15 to 17 percent tariff barrier over Indonesian products to the European and North American markets.

“We can no longer rely too much on the oil and gas trade. We must look to service goods and lifestyle products,” Lembong said.

The ministry plans to improve the appeal of lifestyle products such as attire, furniture and jewelry by offering a joint program between polytechnic schools and designers.

“Last year, the value of Indonesian jewelry exports reached $5 billion. We are aiming to increase the contribution of lifestyle products, but we need to make them more appealing,” he said.

Vo Van Quyen, director of the Ministry of Industry and Trades Domestic Market Department, said that the purchasing of retailers was market-based and the government did not intervene, unless there was evidence to prove discrimination in the purchase.

VASEP said that BigC, which was recently reported to be acquired by Thailands Centre Group in a deal worth US$1.05 billion, asked for the highest rises in discount rates of between 4.2 per cent and 5.5 per cent, pushing the discount rates provided to the giant supermarket chain up from 17 per cent to 25 per cent.

“The rates are too high and seafood suppliers will certainly suffer losses,” VASEP said in its document sent to BigC.

VASEP proposed in the document to BigC that it not increase discount rates for new supply contracts this year while cutting the average discount rate to below 15 per cent – a rate that could ensure the reinvestment ability of seafood companies.

In response, Ho Quoc Nguyen, communication manager of BigC was quoted by the governments e-portal as saying that the supermarket did not create pressure on any supplier with the purchases based on agreements between the two sides.

Currently, more than 90 per cent of products of shelves of BigC were Vietnamese products, Nguyen said, denying the accusation that the supermarket intended to replace Vietnamese products on the shelves with Thai products.

BigC also said that it had not received VASEPs document.

BigC has been in Vietnam for more than 18 years and developed into a chain of 32 supermarkets throughout the country.

The supermarket was under scrutiny by the tax watchdog with regard to its compliance with the inspection expected to finish this month.

Joko came to power in October 2014 pledging to kick-start the economy. He has made it a priority to lure foreign investment to South-east Asia’s biggest economy, launching at least 12 policy packages since last September, including an announcement last month to cut corporate income tax rate by a fifth.

Daniel Tumiwa, president of the Indonesia E-commerce Association (Idea), said Joko had greatly increased the pace of reform.

“But overnight, the new Cabinet invited us to meet and join in the conversation about what could be done to help Indonesia move faster in e-commerce,” he said.

Valued at US$18 billion last year, Indonesia’s e-commerce sector has been the darling of both foreign and domestic investors, and is expected to hit US$130 billion in 2020. It was included as a proposed sector open for full foreign investment on the revised negative investment list. Other proposed sectors on the list include tourism, film and raw pharmaceutical materials.

As a result of the proposed policies, Ricky Kusmayadi, director of Indonesia’s Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) office in Singapore, cited a 30 to 50 per cent jump in visitors to BKPM Singapore inquiring about investment.

BKPM Singapore facilitates investment in Indonesia and helps investors apply for the principal licence online, the first step in the investment process. The online service was launched last year .

Another initiative, launched in January, is the three-hour licence service, which allows companies with a minimum investment of 100 billion rupiah (US$7.5 million) and/or employing 1,000 local workers to obtain nine crucial licences in three hours. Fourteen Singaporean companies have used the service.

Despite these efforts, Indonesia on Wednesday recorded a disappointing 4.92 per cent growth in the first quarter compared with the same period last year, down from 5.04 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year. In the first quarter, realised foreign direct investment (FDI) rose 17.1 per cent to 96.1 trillion rupiah year-on-year. FDI was 365.9 trillion rupiah last year, up 19.2 per cent.

But some economists say it is also important to look at the balance of payments data, which records actual transactions crossing a country’s borders. Going by the data, DBS economist Gundy Cahyadi noted that only US$18 billion of FDI was realised last year, down from US$25.2 billion in 2014.

Trinh Nguyen, senior economist at global asset manager Nataxis, said: “There’s not been much which is concrete except the negative investment list. But the sectors liberalised, like raw materials for pharmaceuticals, will not have a significant impact. Indonesia will need to liberalise significantly and roll back the protectionist measures which it took in the 2006-2007 period.”

Alvin Yap, a Singaporean who has done business in Indonesia for five years and now owns an online business which sells certified used phones, said that while he could see much better business sentiment on the ground, he had not seen changes in improved business efficiency.

“Regulations were a concern previously, which is why we worked with local partners. We are keeping a close eye on regulatory policies but the government has not made them concrete yet.”

This latest investment, first reported in the The Business of Fashion, brings the total capital raised by Farfetch to some US$304.5 million in close to six years, and raises its valuation to US$1.5 billion.

Farfetch now ranks alongside money transfer operator TransferWise and music discovery app Shazam as the best-backed tech start-ups in London, said the Financial Times.

Founded by former shoe designer Jose Neves in 2008, Farfetch is an e-commerce platform for luxury brands and independent retailers to sell their products globally.

They includes leading labels but many of its 400 boutiques and 1,600 luxury designers are small independent traders, said FT. They sell edgy, hard-to-find clothes and accessories at eye-popping prices, like a US$2,190 embroidered silk top from Rosie Assoulin and US$464 T-shirts by Bella Freudm said Bloomberg News.

Farfetch, unlike most e-commerce platforms, also maintains a physical presence in the form of a London-based boutique, Browns, which serves as a test bed and showcase for the company’s technology.

Commenting on its lastest fund-raising, Neves told The Business of Fashion: “If you look at the partners we now welcome on board, like Temasek, which has a huge, huge influence in South-East Asia and investments in all the major Asian internet players, and IDG Capital Partners – same thing – it’s definitely a strategic move.

“They know all the players there and it makes things easier for partnerships, for hiring, for insights.”

Bloomberg News, citing an unidentified source, said FarFetch may turn profitable in 2017, allowing it to consider an initial public offering, probably in New York.

Officials say employers will be allowed to bring in the migrant workers again after June if they can prove that they cannot find Malaysians for the job. This will be an easy hurdle for employers who hire blue-collar workers to do jobs shunned by most Malaysians.

“We have received requests from industry players in specific areas, such as the manufacturing industry,” Sakib Kusmi, director-general of the Immigration Department, told the New Straits Times yesterday.

His comments mark the coming end to the recruitment suspension of low-skilled migrants in some sectors, like manufacturing.

The freeze had come swiftly on the heels of public backlash which followed the government’s announcement in February that it planned to bring in 1.5 million workers from Bangladesh.

The move to lift the hiring freeze reflects the love-hate relationship that Malaysian employers and the public have with foreign labour, rising and falling along with economic growth.

Malaysia has the fourth-largest number of foreign workers in East Asia-Pacific, according to a 2015 World Bank report.

Malaysian employers rely on these workers to assemble electronic parts in factories, pluck palm oil fruits in plantations, wait tables in coffee shops, construct buildings and provide security at housing estates.

Malaysia has 2.1 million legal migrants, and roughly two million more who are in the country without valid documents.

These workers – and their families – are mostly from Indonesia, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Nepal. Employers praise them for their willingness to do the so-called 3-D jobs – dirty, difficult and dangerous.

“We are willing to hire locals over foreigners, but it’s the Malaysians who aren’t interested,” said Noorul Hassan, head of the Malaysian Muslim Restaurant Owners Association. It is a typical complaint among employers.

A survey by the Federation of Malaysia Manufacturers last month found 84 per cent of its members facing a manpower shortage, with half unable to fulfil existing orders, according to a report by The Star daily. Most of its members depend on a regular fresh supply of foreign labour as those with expired work permits return home.

But while employers sing praises of the workers, officials warn that the addiction to cheap labour is bad for the economy in the long term.

By introducing the hiring freeze, the government had been hoping to appease Malaysians unhappy with the higher cost of living and with employers who refuse to hire them as foreign labour is cheaper.

“Manufacturing is one of the sectors which is already 80 to 90 per cent foreign labour. If we allow more foreign workers, then what is the value-add for us?” Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed told The Straits Times.

The central bank, Bank Negara Malaysia, in a Cabinet briefing two months ago also sounded an alarm on the country’s heavy reliance on foreign labour.

The total number of imported labourers – legal and illegal – has exceeded the government’s self-imposed limit of 15 per cent of the workforce. Legal migrants alone made up 15 per cent of the 15.5 million workforce last year.

Abdullah Sani Abdul Hamid, acting president of the Malaysian Trades Union Congress, said: “The problem is companies propose bringing in workers but do they really need that many of them?”

The Department of Economic Planning and Development (JPKE) said the census will cover about 8,000 registered companies to gather detailed confirmation on their businesses.

In a press conference yesterday, Acting Director-General of JPKE Abd Amin Hashim said the census aims to collect comprehensive and latest information pertaining to the growth, contribution, composition and distribution of the economic activities undertaken by business enterprises.

Registered businesses that have yet to start or did not undertake any economic activities during the year are also required to fill in and return the questionnaire.

“Our primary source for sending the questionnaire is from the Registrar of Companies and Business Names, however we acknowledge that some businesses that have registered may not have started yet. In this case, they only have to fill in the relevant parts as we do want information as to why they haven’t started,” said JPKE Acting Director of Statistics Mariah Yahya.

The department added that the data will be used in the compilation of the national accounts statistics, particularly for the calculation of the gross domestic product (GDP) to determine the latest contribution of the private sector to the country’s economic growth.

Results will also be able to assist the government in development planning and formulating policies, said the acting director-general.

He also said the results may also be used by the private sector in planning and developing their respective business activities and strategies.

According to JPKE, the questionnaire and guide for completing the questionnaire will be distributed by post, e-mail or delivered by appointed census officers.

The questionnaire and guide can also be downloaded from JPKE’s website. The closing date for returning the completed questionnaire to JPKE is June 30, by post, fax, e-mail or submitted directly to JPKE.

JPKE also ask for cooperation from all companies in providing the most accurate information as possible, so that the results of the census can give an accurate picture of the country’s economic situation.

Responses from the business enterprises will be treated as confidential in accordance with the Statistics Act, Chapter 81 from the Laws of Brunei Darussalam. The information will be used for statistical purposes only, said JPKE.

The move is part of the two countries’ shared intention to raise their economic cooperation to a new stage based on a win-win approach.

During a goodwill visit to China from May 3-5 by Secretary General of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party and President of the Lao PDR, Mr Bounnhang Vorachit, the two nations signed 10 documents of co operation.

Some of the documents relate to economic and investment cooperation, which should help to boost trade and investment in Laos.

Economists are optimistic that the Lao president’s visit to China, in response to an invitation from his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, will serve as a positive signal for economic cooperation between the two countries.

China is committed to sharing its lessons regarding the development of Special and Specific Economic Zones (SEZs) and to push for further development of an economic cooperation zone at the Boten-Mohan border area aiming to boost trade, investment and tourism in the region.

Currently, over 213 companies are investing in SEZs with a total registered capital of US$4.2 billion, with the largest number of foreign companies being Chinese.

Concerning energy cooperation, China is committed to encouraging Chinese companies and financial institutions to participate in Laos’ energy development strategy.

According to the joint statement, both sides agreed to push forward construction of the China-Laos railway, work more closely in the economic sector, and push for more investment by China in Laos.

As the two countries are celebrating the 55th anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic relations this year, they also agreed to push for further progress in ongoing Chinese-invested mega projects in Laos.

Their economic cooperation has been growing annually despite the global economic slowdown.

In 2011 the value of two-way trade between Laos and China amounted to US$1.3 billion. In 2014 it rose to US$3.6 billion in 2014 but fell to US$2.78 billion in 2015, according to the Lao News Agency.

The total value of Chinese investment in Laos has reached US$6.7 billion, making China the largest foreign investor in Laos.

Chinese companies have pumped funding into over 760 projects mainly in mining, hydropower, agriculture, finance, shopping centres, and special economic zones.

Specifically, from 2011 to the present, China has invested US$2.75 billion in 160 projects. The two governments are committed to further discussing various shortcomings in order to facilitate the import and export of goods across the countries’ shared border.

Both sides agreed to enhance the integration of development strategies, coordinate the construction of regional trade infrastructure, and cooperate more closely in production capacity and investment, according to Xinhua .