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Jokowi gives a convincing argument about why Elon Musk should invest in Indonesia


Elon Musk, who appeared at an event in New York in early May, is being aggressively touted to manufacture his electric vehicle “end-to-end” in resource-rich Indonesia.

Angela Weiss | AFP | beautiful pictures

President Joko Widodo denied that Indonesia had turned its back on protectionism during his term, saying the door remained open to all companies – including Tesla – who wanted to use natural resources abundance of the country, if they set up factories that can add value to the local economy.

Widodo, or Jokowi, as it is commonly known at home, said the government was in talks with the electric car maker Tesla as Ford and other car companies to set up production facilities, including a vehicle factory, in Indonesia.

The Indonesian president said he met Elon Musk, the Tesla chief executive and the world’s richest man, in May after US President Joe Biden hosted a summit for Southeast Asian leaders. Jokowi said he suggested that Tesla could locate its entire supply chain in the country.

“We’ve had a lot of discussions, especially about how Tesla can build their industry upstream to downstream, end-to-end starting at the smelter, then building the industry. cathode and precursor industry, making EV batteries, making lithium batteries [and] then the car factory. Everything in Indonesia, because that’s so efficient. That’s what I give,” Widodo told CNBC in an exclusive interview Friday in the city of Serang in Banten province.

He said Musk sent a team to Indonesia six weeks ago “to test the potential of nickel, to test the environmental aspects, but the car-related team didn’t come.”

He say a group may visit in the “near future” for potential assessment. Jokowi, who also invited Musk to attend the G-20 summit that Indonesia is hosting this year in Bali, said there is “no decision yet” on Tesla’s plans to invest in Indonesia.

We want to build an industrial ecosystem for lithium batteries.

Joko Widodo

President of Indonesia

Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy, has abundant natural reserves of tin, copper, nickel, cobalt and bauxite, some of which are key raw materials for electric vehicle battery.

Under Jokowi, resource-rich Indonesia banned exports of key commodities, including unprocessed nickel in 2020, coal in 2021 and cooking oil in April. The last resort is to stabilize prices. both domestically.

“No, I don’t think it’s protectionism. But we want that added value in Indonesia… If we continue to export raw materials, the people who get the added value are the countries. other,” he said.

In an effort to boost the economy and use natural resources for domestic production, Indonesia wants to move away from exporting raw materials. It also wants to be a global player in EV batteries and an electric car maker.

“We want to build an industrial ecosystem for lithium batteries, arguing that this will also create jobs and generate tax revenue,” says Jokowi.



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