The Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan is exploring opportunities for cooperation in the development of electric vehicle batteries (electric car/EV) with Australian lithium entrepreneurs. In an upload on his personal Instagram account @luhut.pandjaitan monitored in Jakarta, Monday (13/2), while attending a roundtable meeting bridged between the Australia Indonesia Business Council and the Indonesian Consulate General in Perth, Luhut said that although it is rich in nickel, Indonesia has not yet become the world's king of electric vehicle batteries because does not have lithium which is the main ingredient in the development of the EV battery industry.
"In front of lithium entrepreneurs, I would like to say that Australia is the best candidate and our potential partner to develop the EV battery industry because half of the world's lithium is found in the country of the Kangaroo," he said. On that occasion, Luhut also brought several SOEs in the mineral resources sector to meet and explore direct cooperation with lithium entrepreneurs in Australia. According to Luhut, Indonesia needs to gain trust in order to cooperate with one of the world's lithium giants, including by considering several policy conveniences that Indonesia will provide. However, on the other hand it is still being done in a way that is responsible for environmental impacts.
"We are aware that the dream of becoming the 'king' of the world's electric vehicle batteries is not an easy thing. Therefore, it is necessary to have partners who trust and support each other, provide input in realizing better regulations, more open investment so that we can encourage economic growth and job creation of the two countries in order to achieve sustainable development goals," he said. Furthermore, Luhut revealed that Indonesia is not the same country as Indonesia decades ago. He stressed that Indonesia was on track to carry out a major transformation.
"We're on our way to making a major transformation. Even though many countries still underestimate us, not a few appreciate Indonesia's big change because it was able to survive in difficult conditions due to the global economic turmoil," he said again. Luhut said the key to Indonesia's economic resilience is the development of a mineral downstream industry with high added value as a focus to accelerate global commitments in the energy transition.
