Following a meeting in Jakarta between US president Barack Obama and Indonesian president Joko Widodo, General Electric said that it will invest up to $1 billion in the South East Asian country’s power, oil and gas, and health-care sectors.

GE vice-chairman John Rice said: “Indonesia has been an important and strategic country for us for over 75 years. The current government’s vision and its plans to accelerate spending on infrastructure have given us the confidence to make this commitment.”

Mr Rice said that, as Indonesia has set “an ambitious goal” to increase its power generation capacity by 35GW by 2019, “GE will bring its latest technology here and partner with local companies to expand their manufacturing and assembly capabilities”.

He added that GE will also enhance Indonesia’s repair and service capabilities and “help to build its human capital through technical and leadership training programmes”.

In the oil and gas sector, GE will expand its sub-sea equipment manufacturing facility to include other GE product lines and will partner with local companies.

In the health-care sector, “GE will align with Indonesia’s objective of providing universal health-care” by supporting the expansion of the country’s primary health-care “eco-system”, including the development of up to 100 primary-care clinics through technology and training innovations.

GE said that the investment will create over 6,000 jobs. The company currently employs nearly 1,000 people, with operations in Jakarta, manufacturing facilities in Yogyakarta and Batam, and a turbine service facility in Bandung.