The Jakarta Globe are reporting on a recent trip President Jokowi made to attend the ASEAN-US Special Summit in Washington DC where he met with prominent business leaders to promote Indonesia’s enormous potential for investment in industrial raw materials, green energy, and the digital economy.
“With a population of 270-million people, the majority of whom are of productive age, Indonesia continues to make breakthroughs and innovations to be able to advance. With a vast area and abundant natural resources, Indonesia is very rich in industrial raw materials and green energy,” Jokowi told the forum.
Indonesia is one of the world’s largest producers of nickel, which has gained a great deal of attention recently as it’s a core component of the stainless steel and lithium-ion battery cells essential for the Electric Vehicle (EV) industry and this has propelled the country’s stainless steel industry.
Indonesia now ranks second in global stainless steel production, according to Jokowi.
“This transformation will be followed by mining goods, such as copper and bauxite for aluminium, which will serve as the backbone for new and renewable industries, including lithium batteries and electric vehicles,” he said.
Regarding green energy, Indonesia has 4,400-rivers for hydropower plants, and a potential of 29,000-megawatts of geothermal energy. There is also a huge potential for solar power plants. Jokowi went on to say that Indonesia will make sure that environmentally friendly power plants will power the production of essential goods. “We invite American businesses to invest in Indonesia,” he told the summit.
Like green energy, Indonesia’s digital economy also has great potential for investors.
According to Jokowi, Southeast Asia’s digital economy is expected to reach USD 330-billion in value by 2025 and is forecast to enjoy a 20-percent annual growth, and will likely reach USD 146-billion by the same year.
Indonesia is currently the fifth largest country in the world for start-ups, with 2,346, including 2-decacorns and 8-unicorns.
“Hopefully, American businesses can contribute in developing [Indonesia’s] digital infrastructure, facilitating digital capacity building, and helping us enter the global value chain with digitalization,” Jokowi said.
The summit saw participation from business representatives from top American companies such as Google, Chevron, Boeing, Qualcomm and ConocoPhillips.
“I hope this meeting will be a momentum for the US’ return in the region through its companies with a mutually beneficial partnership. We are waiting for you in ASEAN, especially in Indonesia,” the President said.
Source: The Jakarta Globe
