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AKARTA: PT Freeport Indonesia in Papua has been a major contributor to improving the local economy in the province as well as the national economy, US Ambassador to Indonesia Robert O. Blake has said.

'€œI have been away from Jakarta for a week and did not receive the latest information on Freeport, but I can say that the company has made a major contribution to Indonesia by employing 30,000 people and by paying a significant amount in taxes to the country,'€ Blake said as quoted by Antara.

Blake made the statement in response to a question on reports that PT Freeport Indonesia'€™s president director Maroef Sjamsoeddin'€™s had resigned from his post.

The ambassador declined to comment further on the issue.

'€œThings related to Maroef'€™s resignation and Freeport are the internal matters of the company, so I have no authority to comment on it,'€ Blake affirmed.

Maroef was appointed directly by the former chairman of the board of Freeport McMoran, James Robert Moffett, on Jan. 7, 2015, replacing Rozik B. Soetjipto. Before serving as the Freeport Indonesia boss, Maroef was National Intelligence Agency (BIN) deputy head from 2011 to 2014.

Maroef resigned following the brouhaha involving former House of Representatives speaker Setya Novanto, who was alleged to have sought favors from Freeport Indonesia in return for an extension on its contract of work.