Jakarta. Despite the seemingly friendly gestures during world leaders’ gatherings, there are always rivalries and competitions for global investments and the most advanced technologies, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said on Wednesday.

“For instance, during the G-20 Summit, they all shook hands in a friendly manner, but everyone was actually competing against each other,” Jokowi said during a national working meeting on family planning in Jakarta. 

Not just in the G-20, whose combined GDP accounts for 85 percent of the world’s total, Southeast Asian countries are also competing for investments and technologies. 

ASEAN leaders get on well with each other because of the shared value of regional economic integration but “they grapple for investments”, Jokowi said. 

He said increasing human resource quality is a key strategy in increasing Indonesia’s competitiveness in attracting investments and adopting new technologies. 

Considering the importance of quality human capital, Jokowi urged the National Population and Family Planning Agency (BKKBN) to do their task well in keeping the growth balance and upgrading the family quality. 

“Building a quality family is not easy, but I have faith that 1.2 million instructors in the BKKBN, plus the assistants, are able to do it,” said the President.

The government is counting on investments to maintain the economic recovery momentum and achieve growth of 5.3 percent for 2023. 

Jokowi targets Rp 1,400 trillion ($93 billion) in new investment this year, compared to Rp 1,200 trillion last year.

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