"By removing heavy restrictions on investment and signalling that Indonesia is open for business, it can help attract investors, create jobs and help Indonesia fight poverty," the statement added.
At home, labour unions, green groups, workers, students and even Muslim organisations had opposed the law, taking to the streets to demand that Mr Joko revoke it through a Perppu, or a regulation in lieu of the law.
They said the new regulations would hurt workers by slashing severance pay, affecting minimum wages and making it possible for people to be employed on a contract basis indefinitely.
Environmentalists also objected,
pointing out the removal of a strict liability clause that provides a legal basis to sue corporations for causing environmental damage such as in the case of forest fires.
The protests are unlikely to abate.
Hours before Mr Joko signed off on the law on Monday, thousands rallied peacefully in the capital Jakarta, as well as other cities including Yogyakarta, Banda Aceh, Medan and Makassar.
On Tuesday (Nov 3), two labour unions, the Confederation of Indonesian Trade Unions (KSPI), and the All-Indonesia Workers Unions Confederation (KSPSI AGN), filed a judicial review of the law to the Constitutional Court.
In a statement, KSPI president Said Iqbal said: "After we studied the content of the law, especially on labour, almost everything is unfavourable to the workers."
He added: "KSPI will also continue to carry out actions and strikes in line with the constitutional rights of the workers and which are non-violent in nature."