Jakarta – President Megawati Soekarnoputri said on Thursday that the government was committed to continuing its deregulatory measures in the economic sector.

"I am resolved to reduce the government's role and continue maintaining deregulation in the economic sector, including the various production sectors dealing with energy," the President was quoted by Antara as saying at a symposium on oil andgas in Tokyo.

She said at the symposium, which was attended by Japanese businessmen, that an important lesson Indonesia had learned from many countries over the past two decades was that an economic system riddled with regulations was vulnerable to economic distortions which in the long run would cause inefficiency.

She also said that the Indonesian government was discussing a bill on oil and gas. "If the bill is passed into law, [Indonesia's] downstream sector will go to private investment," she said.

A transparent legal network, she said, would be set up to increase domestic investments in the natural gas sector. She said that the Indonesian government would also formulate other bills on electricity, geothermal and energy management in an effort to operate on a consistent basis to restructure the energy sector.

Although Indonesia exports energy, that does not mean the country is capable of solving its domestic energy problems, she said. "One of these problems is dealing with the future electricity shortage. We are looking for ways to tackle the problem. We need more investment to increase our power stations' capacity," Megawati said.

"We welcome you to invest [in Indonesia]. We ask you to take a look at the eastern part of Indonesia which is rich in natural resources, most of which are untapped oil fields," she said.

Megawati arrived in Japan on Wednesday for a five-day visit after spending a week in the United States.