Indonesia has sealed a deal worth US$9.8 billion with South Korea’s LG Energy Solution to develop the world’s first integrated electric vehicle (EV) battery industry, Indonesia’s investment chief said on Wednesday. The memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed by Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) head Bahlil Lahadalia and LG Energy Solution representatives in Seoul on Dec. 18 with South Korean Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Sung Yun-mo witnessing the signing. The deal is the result of a series of negotiations that started with a meeting between President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and his South Korean counterpart, Moon Jae-in, in Busan, South Korea, in November 2019. The MoU includes strategic investment projects in the EV battery cell industry that integrates the mining, smelting, refining, and precursor and cathode industries, according to a BKP...