President Joko Widodo has invited Tesla CEO Elon Musk to invest in Indonesia. As well as plans in the electric car sector, Jokowi also invited Tesla to look to Indonesia as the location for the Space X launch pad.
Jokowi delivered the invitation during a telephone conversation with Musk (founder Tesla) on Friday 11th December. During the discussion, Jokowi was accompanied by the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Luhut Binsar Panjaitan.
“The two sides exchanged views on the electric car industry and the main components of electric batteries,” said an official statement from the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment.
In the statement, Musk was said to have responded to the president’s invitation. The plan is for Musk will send his team to Indonesia in January 2021 to explore all opportunities for cooperation.
Previously, the news that Tesla would invest in Indonesia was widely heard. Acting Deputy for Infrastructure and Transportation Coordination of the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Ayodhia GL Kalake, said that Tesla had plans to invest in Indonesia.
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In addition, Minister of Industry Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita also said that there’s a plan for a Tesla factory to be established in the Batang Integrated Industrial Zone in Central Java. During his visit to the US last November, Luhut also invited Tesla to invest in lithium batteries in Indonesia.
“Tesla just came to China to buy materials for the production of lithium batteries in the US, while the raw materials for the production batteries that were made in China came from Indonesia.
I told Tesla, why don’t you invest in us?” said Luhut as quoted by CNN