| Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for Maritime and Investment Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, left, shakes hands with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Choo Kyung-ho during their high-level meeting on investment in Seoul, Thursday. Courtesy of Ministry of Economy and Finance |
By Kwon Mee-yoo
| Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for Maritime and Investment Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan speaks to Korean media at a hotel in central Seoul, Friday. Korea Times photo by Kwon Mee-yoo |
During his visit to Korea, the Indonesian minister met with Korea's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Choo Kyung-ho to discuss ways to cooperate in EV infrastructure, petrochemical plant and subway construction during a high-level dialogue on investment between the two countries.
"Korea has an important presence in Indonesia. We don't want to put all our eggs in one basket and we'd like to see Korea from this perspective," he told Korean media, Friday, explaining why the two countries established a high-level dialogue on investment.
Luhut, a key aide of Indonesian President Joko Widodo, highlighted that Indonesia has a great potential for collaboration with Korea, especially in the EV sector.
"We have so many critical minerals in Indonesia and we'd like to (develop the EV industry) with Korean companies as we understand that Korea is very advanced in EV technology," he said.
The minister noted that the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of the United States could provide opportunities for countries like Korea and Indonesia to explore more options in other countries.
"The IRA is protecting their own country, so leave it to the U.S. We still can do other businesses not only with America but with Korea and other countries," he said.
"The market in Indonesia is not small and we have a good economy with nearly every critical mineral and renewable energy potential," he added.
According to the minister, Indonesia is preparing to form an alliance with African and South American countries and extended an invitation to the Korean deputy prime minister.
"We respect and understand that Korea has a very advanced technology on battery ― lithium, LFP (lithium iron phosphate) and hydrogen ― so we proposed this idea to work together," he said.
Luhut said he also discussed the possibility of collaboration in Indonesia's new capital, Nusantara, with Korea's Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Won Hee-ryong.
"The new capital will be a green capital, using hydropower and solar panels for energy. The ambassador (Gandi Sulistiyanto) brought Korean investors to Nusantara and we will move forward on this issue," the minister said.
"The government building construction is financed by the state and already 30-40 percent complete. But we have nine clusters there and other clusters like hospitals and universities are open to local and foreign investors. We have high expectations for Korea because Korean companies are (already) doing very well in Indonesia."