UAE turns ‘largest investor’ with $10bn pledge for Indonesia wealth fund

UAE turns ‘largest investor’ with $10bn pledge for Indonesia wealth fund

JAKARTA: Indonesia on Wednesday welcomed the UAE's commitment to invest $10 billion in its recently launched sovereign wealth fund, which a senior official said made the emirates the "largest major investor" in the initiative. "With this investment, so far the UAE has become the largest major investor in the Indonesia Investment Authority (INA)," Husin Bagis, Indonesia's ambassador to the UAE, told Arab News on Wednesday. "The joining of the UAE further shows the high level of international confidence to invest in the INA and would attract other world investors to join and invest," he added. The UAE helped Indonesia establish the INA through its Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (AIDA) in February this year, with the AIDA serving as one of its advisers. The sovereign wealth fund, introduced during the same period, will be used for major infrastructure projects and will boost connectivity in the world's largest archipelago, with nearly 17, 000 islands. "We believe that more investors would be interested in a number of high-potential opportunities in Indonesia, which range from stable brownfield assets to greenfield projects with potential value in the future," Jodi Mahardika, a spokesman for the Coordinating Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Investment, told Arab News on