Jakarta – Indonesia is open to Papua New Guinea’s (PNG’s) cooperation interest and will enable it to study its mineral industry downstreaming process, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has said.
After examining the Zone 9 food estate corn field in Keerom district, Papua, on Thursday, the President noted that both Indonesia and PNG have plentiful mineral wealth.
” After seeing Indonesia’s nickel stock that offers massive added value to as much as 30 times, PNG wants to see the step-by-step (downstreaming) process, and Indonesia is open to that,” he said in a broadcast on the Presidential Secretariat’s YouTube channel.
He even more said he will enable PNG to observe the industrial downstreaming procedure in Indonesia, including for nickel in Morowali and Weda Bay, copper in Gresik, and bauxite in Bintan.
PNG has actually likewise been invited to explore cooperation capacity for the downstreaming process with state-owned or private Indonesian companies, he included.
We will constantly be open for them,” he emphasized.
He stated that such cooperation is necessary to advance advancement in the Global South.
Bilateral relations in between Indonesia and PNG will be enhanced, he added. This will be realized through concrete efforts, such as the advancement of economic zones on the Indonesia-PNG border that will have exceptional trade capacity.
” If we see, for instance, in Skouw (in Papua), the trade worth there reached US$300 million– it is for Skouw and Wutung (in PNG) alone. If we establish similar financial zones, it will be much better. We offered this yesterday, and PNG agreed to it,” he disclosed.
Previously, after a conference with Prime Minister James Marape at Port Moresby during his visit to Papua New Guinea on July 5, 2023, President Widodo stated that Indonesia and PNG have actually consented to the drafting of a plan for advancement cooperation for the next 5 years.
Besides restating Indonesia’s dedication to assisting PNG in developing numerous facilities, such as hospitals, station house, and schools, Widodo also highlighted the nation’s devotion to advancing cooperation with Pacific countries, including PNG.
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