Jakarta. Indonesia's sovereign wealth fund Danantara will announce new partnerships with Japan, China, and close neighbor Malaysia in the coming weeks, according to its boss Rosan Roeslani.

“Within two or three weeks, we will sign a joint fund agreement with some countries like Japan, China, and Malaysia,” Rosan told the press on the sidelines of the DBS Asian Insights Conference in Jakarta. 

The investment minister, however, did not go into details. Rosan admitted that there were "one or two more" foreign partners for the newly minted fund. The talks with these anonymous investors are still ongoing. He also attributed the growing interest among foreign countries to Danantara’s willingness to adopt a co-investment scheme.

“They trust us [Danantara] because we are investing in the projects together with them,” Rosan said.

Earlier that day, the seasoned businessman revealed that Danantara would focus on investing in Indonesia “for now”. He added: “But the law states that we are also open to investing in ASEAN or other countries, as long as it brings good returns.”

If Danantara manages to strike all these fresh deals, it would further expand the fund’s list of foreign partners. Danantara and the Qatar Investment Authority have agreed to establish a joint fund worth $4 billion with each agency contributing $2 billion. The money will mainly target projects in Indonesia, and specifically target sectors such as industrial processing and renewable energy. Just a few days ago, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced he would “facilitate cooperation” with his country’s investment agency Future Fund during his first overseas trip of his second term. Future Fund’s assets amounted to A$240.8 billion or approximately $155 billion as of end-March.

Danantara has also been speaking to French mining giant Eramet, whose main operation in Indonesia is its Weda Bay Nickel mine in North Maluku’s Halmahera. Rosan once admitted that the deal with Eramet would likely center on helping Indonesia move up the nickel value chain, although he remained tight-lipped on the time frame. French President Emmanuel Macron is scheduled to jet to Jakarta to meet his Indonesian counterpart Prabowo next week. The Jakarta Globe asked Rosan if Macron’s visit would finally witness the announcement of a Danantara-Eramet partnership. He only said: “Well, we will let you know later.”

As of late March, all 844 Indonesian state-run enterprises -- including its sub-subsidiaries -- are already under Danantara's wings. Prabowo claimed that Danantara’s assets could top $1 trillion. 

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