Jakarta. Sovereign wealth fund Danantara is trying to attract some Emirati investments as Indonesia seeks to move up the value chain in the aluminium industry.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has long been exploring possible aluminum investments in the resource-rich country. Emirates Global Aluminum (EGA) has even struck some deals with the state-owned metal smelting company Inalum, although their cooperation has faced some setbacks. Danantara’s boss Rosan Roeslani had met with Emirati Energy Minister Suhail Mohamed Al Mazrouei in Jakarta on Wednesday night for some discussions aimed at reigniting the UAE’s interest.

Rosan thanked the UAE for helping Indonesia build the Cirata project, Indonesia’s first-ever floating solar plant boasts 145 megawatts in capacity. However, he admitted that there remained a “huge room” for greater investment cooperation in various fields, including on alumina, which is key in cosmetics. Alumina is also an integral part of the aluminum-making process. This is a widely used metal whose uses range from home appliances to cars.

“There is still a huge potential ahead, so we have agreed to step up our investment cooperation. One of them is alumina processing in West Kalimantan. This is something that we will do,” Rosan told the press following the meeting.

Rosan was alluding to Inalum, despite not mentioning the name of the Indonesian firm that would take part in the West Kalimantan project. Inalum -- in partnership with the state gold miner Antam -- has developed the Mempawah smelter-grade alumina refinery in the said province, and the government has been banking on this facility to end the country’s reliance on foreign aluminum. Indonesia reported that it could lose $3.5 billion in foreign exchange each year from imports of the silvery-white metal. Inalum, alongside other state-run companies, is also now under Danantara’s command. Efforts are underway to double the West Kalimantan refinery’s annual capacity to 2 million tons.

Al Mazrouei confirmed that the UAE was checking out the potential investments in Indonesia, a country which he described as having a “huge potential in human capital”. But the ball is now in the companies’ court.

“We have found areas of collaboration to be looked at by our companies, [including] on aluminum. … It’s for the companies to make sure that they are getting a win-win situation,” Al Mazrouei said.

In February, Chief Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto had nudged EGA Chief Executive Officer Abdulnasser Ibrahim Saif Bin Kalban to follow up on the investment plan. About three years ago, EGA inked a memorandum of understanding to conduct a feasibility study to boost the annual capacity of Inalum’s North Sumatra smelter to 400,000 tons. EGA’s Kalban told Airlangga that the high electricity bills and lack of low-carbon power supply -- which is pivotal to green aluminum production -- had prevented the expansion from coming to fruition, according to a ministerial press statement. 

EGA claims to be the world’s largest “premium aluminum” producer.