President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo met with representatives from BASF, Eramet and Volkswagen, who appeared keen to invest in the Indonesian EV battery industry.
resident Joko "Jokowi" Widodo participated in the opening of the Hannover Messe alongside German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Sunday, marking the third time Indonesia has served as a partner country for the major industrial fair.
Prior to the exhibition, the government announced that Indonesian entities had signed memorandums of understanding (MoUs) worth Rp 30 trillion (US$2.04 billion) and had secured commitments from several major German chemical and automotive firms to invest in Indonesia's electric vehicle (EV) battery industry.
Investment Minister Bahlil Lahadalia said he had accompanied the President for meetings with Germany’s BASF and Volkswagen and France’s Eramet.
On the occasion, BASF reportedly reiterated its interest in the EV battery ecosystem in North Maluku, with $2.6 billion in proposed investments. The chemical company had pitched a plan to Bahlil in October 2021 to build a plant with an annual production capacity of 42,000 tons of nickel and 5,000 tons of cobalt.
"This is an investment partnership with Eramet to build an environmentally friendly ecosystem using green energy. Construction would begin at the end of this year," Bahlil said in a statement.
Volkswagen, according to Bahlil, expressed its intention to help build Indonesia’s EV battery ecosystem through its battery subsidiary PowerCo and to collaborate with Vale, Ford and Huayou, which announced a $4.5 billion deal to build a nickel processing plant in Southeast Sulawesi last month.
Read also: Two nickel IPOs this month point to downstream industry potential
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