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hortly before leaving the COP21 climate talks in Paris to return home, President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo expressed optimism that developed countries would do more to help the developing world cut carbon emissions.

'€œFrom what I saw in the bilateral talks, a good number of countries will be willing to help us [address climate change issues], for example [by improving cooperation in] energy, peatland restoration and forest conservation. I believe there is reason to be optimistic,'€ he told reporters on Tuesday.

The assistance of developed nations, Jokowi said, would be crucial for developing nations to balance economic growth and action on climate change.

At past conferences in Copenhagen in 2009 and in Cancun, Mexico, in 2010, developed countries committed to raising US$100 billion per year by 2020 to help developing countries deal with climate change.

'€œWe want to see development take environmental concerns into account. We must ensure high economic growth does not come at the expense of environmental preservation. We must find a balance between the two,'€ Jokowi said.

He added, however, that a planned new peatland management body his delegation had hinted would be unveiled in Paris would have to wait another week.

The President also declined to say who would chair the body.

Earlier on Tuesday, during a panel discussion attended by the Prince of Wales, Alliance of Indigenous People (AMAN) chairman Abdon Nababan expressed his disappointment at Jokowi'€™s refusal to make a quick decision on the peatland management body.

In his speech to the opening of COP21 on Monday, Jokowi vowed that he would ensure his administration would pay more attention to the environment at the same time as ensuring economic growth, saying that Indonesia, which contains one of the largest expanses of forest in the world and is deemed part of the '€œlungs of the world'€, had resolved to be part of the solution, rather than part of the problem.

He also renewed Indonesia'€™s commitment, laid out in its Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC), to reduce its carbon emissions by 29 percent by 2030, or 41 percent with international support.

One of the government'€™s most important recent measures, he said, was cutting fuel subsidies and reallocating the funds to infrastructure development.

During COP21, the Indonesian delegation is looking to seal an agreement that countries will be allowed to decide their own climate initiatives according to their capabilities.

Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said Indonesia would push for the principle of common but differentiated responsibility and respective capabilities.

The principle, first agreed in 1992, recognizes that countries at different stages of development have different obligations in dealing with climate change.

'€œIndonesia'€™s stance, which is translated into our INDC of 29 percent or 41 percent, came after weighing three considerations, namely Indonesia'€™s strategic position as the home of a great swathe of forests, its geography, which makes it vulnerable to the effects of climate change, and the consideration that Indonesia [as a developing country] needs room for economic development,'€ Retno said.

Meanwhile, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that given the recognized dangers of fossil fuels, hopes for future prosperity in the developing world now rested on bold initiatives.