The Leaders of Indonesia Competition Commission (ICC) fulfilled the invitation of the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, to discuss business competition performance and efforts to improve a sound business competition climate in Indonesia, today at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta. ICC was represented by ICC Chairman Kodrat Wibowo, ICC Vice Chairman Guntur S. Saragih, and several ICC Members, i.e., M. Afif Hasbullah, Kurnia Toha, and Yudi Hidayat in the said meeting. Whilst President Jokowi was flanked by the Minister of State Secretary of the Republic of Indonesia, Pratikno and the President's Special Staff, Arif Budimanta, in welcoming the leaders of ICC.

During the meeting, ICC expressed various achievements reached during 2020 in carrying out the mandate of the law and in supporting the Government's program to improve the climate of the national competitiveness and investment. President Jokowi warmly welcomed the performance of ICC, particularly the various suggestions and considerations conveyed by ICC to the Government which will be followed up by the relevant Ministries.

President Jokowi specifically asked ICC to enhance its role in advancing the competition climate in Indonesia, particularly in order to contribute to efforts to enhance the national competitiveness index which declined during the pandemic period. Therefore, President Jokowi asked ICC to give inputs to the Government in such efforts. ICC has previously informed the public that the level of the national business competition, as explained through the Business Competition Index (IPU), showed a decline from 4.72 in 2019 to 4.65 in 2020. On the other hand, the 2020 IMD World Competitiveness Ranking report also showed that Indonesia's competitiveness ranking had decreased 8 levels from ranking 32 to 40 out of 63 countries.

Other than conveying such performance report, the leaders of ICC also expressed their request to President Jokowi to resolve the issue of employment status at the ICC secretariat. This is aimed to strengthening the implementation of the duties and functions of ICC in the future, particularly in enhancing the national business competition index and the effectiveness of the supervision of the implementation of partnerships for the development of the national micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).