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Jokowi bags Nusantara investment commitments from Japanese firms
Several Japanese companies have inked MoUs on investment commitments to develop the nation’s new capital, long viewed as the President's pet project.
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resident Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has reeled in investment commitments from Japanese organizations for the Nusantara Capital City (IKN) project during the Group of Seven (G7) Summit in Hiroshima.
On the sidelines of the summit over the weekend, Jokowi met with 33 Japanese delegates comprising three government officials and representatives from 24 companies, four business associations and two financial institutions.
“That meeting discussed investment cooperation in Indonesia’s priority sectors, [mainly] highlighting investments in IKN development,” Foreign Minister Retno L.P. Marsudi told an online press conference on Sunday.
The results of the President’s meeting included five memorandums of understanding (MoUs) the IKN Authority signed with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), the Japan International Association for the Industry of Building and Housing (JIBH), the Japan Conference on Overseas Development of Eco-Cities (J-CODE) and the Urban Renaissance Agency (UR).
The meeting also resulted in 24 letters of intent (LoIs) between the IKN Authority and Japanese companies, though no details were disclosed at Sunday’s press conference.
MoUs contain broad outlines of an agreement between two or more parties, while LoIs are nonbinding documents that declare a preliminary commitment to do business together, according to Investopedia.
“And Bapak [Mr.] President called for the Japanese companies to invest in other priority sectors, such as the downstream industry [and] the energy transition,” Retno told reporters.
“The President stated several times that he was happy to cooperate with Japan because it had good quality”, but expressed his wish for more competitive prices, she added.
Read also: IKN dismisses concerns over Nusantara capital city project, unveils incentives
According to Retno, the President told Japanese delegates that investing in Indonesia was “very promising”, as the government was heavily committed to improving the country’s “investment and competition climate”.
“In the meeting with CEOs, the President addressed several points, that amid global economic uncertainty, the Indonesian economy was one of the most resilient,” she said.
Jokowi also spoke about investment opportunities in the IKN project during his meeting with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, in addition to electric vehicles, renewables and the chemicals industry.
Citing the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Retno said the Indonesian economy was projected to grow 5 percent this year and 5.1 percent in 2024.
Read also: ‘Actions, not rhetoric’: Jokowi admonishes G7 for climate financing impasse
On Saturday, Jokowi met with IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva as a side event of the G7 Summit. During that meeting, the IMF presented its assessment on the condition of the Indonesian economy as good and stable, with growth exceeding the global average.
Jokowi also met with French President Emmanuel Macron on the sidelines of the G7 Summit, during which the two leaders discussed France’s 500 million-euro (US$541 million) assistance via the French Development Agency (AFD) for Indonesia’s energy transition program.
They also spoke about a plan to form a joint venture between Indonesia’s state-owned defense firm PT Len Industri and Paris-based manufacturer Thales.
At the summit, Jokowi raised his concern about the sluggish progress of G7 countries in fulfilling their financing commitment to the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) for Indonesia, as well as the JETPs for South Africa and Vietnam.
