Jakarta. President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo did not return from his recent Abu Dhabi trip empty-handed as Indonesia had just secured a deal to get a Dubai financial hub to participate in the new capital project Nusantara.

According to Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi, the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC) Authority has agreed to take part in Nusantara’s financial center project.

The DIFC and the Nusantara capital authorities had inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on this project during Jokowi’s state visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Nusantara also became a major topic of discussion when Jokowi met Emirati leader Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (MBZ).

“Of course, after this MoU signing, we will have technical visits by the delegates to discuss the preparatory work for this partnership,” Retno said on Wednesday.

Retno did not go into details on this financial center partnership with the DIFC. 

However, the new capital has begun work on what it calls the “financial center” area with some state-owned banks already breaking ground on their respective office buildings. They are the state-run BNI, Bank Mandiri and BRI. 

Jokowi has been insisting on replacing the congested Jakarta with an entirely new capital that lies in the East Kalimantan province. Jokowi is scheduled to start working from Nusantara in July, although the president has been delaying this plan, citing that he would only move once the basic infrastructure is ready. 

The $33 billion capital relocation is set to mostly rely on private investors as government funding will only cover 20 percent of the total costs. Jokowi is about to retire from his presidential post this October. The DIFC deal shows that Jokowi’s UAE trip at least bore fruit in his attempt to get foreign investors for the new capital project before his retirement.

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