Indonesia’s recently re-elected President Joko Widodo on Sunday shared his vision for a second term, pledging faster infrastructure development and more investment opportunities to create jobs and growth in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy.

The President’s focus on human resources and jobs comes as the country has struggled to lift growth above 5% in recent years even amidst a boom in infrastructure building.

While the President will focus on infrastructure development - a key agenda in his first term, he also emphasized plans to improve human resources in a country. This would include investing in vocational schools and creating an institution to manage Indonesian talent, as well as tapping the skills of those who settled overseas, he said.

Widodo also promised to open up investment opportunities in a country where red tape and vested interests act as big deterrents to foreign capital. His concerns stem from the fact that despite improvements in Indonesia’s ranking on the World Bank’s ease of doing business index, there remain too many obstacles to starting a business.

The President’s reforms are in tandem with the government’s previous plans to improve the country’s employability. In February this year, the government had announced a US$35.5 Bn stimulus package this year to improve the employability of the country’s workforce. According to reports, the government was strengthening educational establishments to help develop the required workforce for the ‘Fourth industrial revolution ’.