Jakarta. President Prabowo Subianto would try to lure foreign investments from the American automotive giant Ford and its German counterpart Volkswagen when he goes on his first foreign trip later this month, a minister said Monday.

Prabowo plans to spend most of November abroad, just weeks after assuming office.

He will meet the leaders of G20 -- the rich-country club that includes Germany and the US -- in Brazil. The government has confirmed Prabowo’s attendance at the Peru forum of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)  -- another alliance that the US is part of. The newly inaugurated president will stop by China and the US to meet their respective leaders -- Xi Jinping and Joe Biden -- before coming to the said multilateral fora. 

According to State-Owned Enterprise Minister Erick Thohir, Prabowo is set to give an extra push for Indonesia’s goal of developing its electric vehicle (EV) ecosystem when he travels abroad.

“Regarding Mr. President [upcoming] overseas tour, I have told Foreign Minister [Sugiono] to include this on [Prabowo’s] agenda … for the president to start the discussions on pushing for Ford Motor Company’s investments in Indonesia. The same goes for Volkswagen,” Erick told the country’s lawmakers during a hearing session in Jakarta.

“Indonesia wants to play a role in the global EV battery supply chain,” Erick said.

Nickel miner Vale has partnered with Ford and Chinese cobalt supplier Huayou to build a $4.5 billion nickel processing plant in Kolaka, Southeast Sulawesi. According to media reports, Vale was seeking to work with Volkswagen for the high-pressure acid leach facility -- which extracts valuable metals from laterite ores -- in the South Sulawesi village of Sorowako. The Indonesian government has a 34 percent stake in Vale via the state mining holding company: MIND ID.

Attracting foreign investors has been a huge part of Indonesia’s grand plan for mining industrialization. Since 2020, Indonesia has stopped exporting unprocessed nickel ores in favor of producing semi-finished or finished goods at home. This way, the nickel-abundant country can ship out goods that can give a bigger boost to the economy. The import restrictions on nickel -- a mainstay ingredient in EV battery manufacturing -- also aim to nudge global carmakers and battery producers into setting up their production plants in Indonesia. 

This strategy of having Indonesia move up the EV value chain was an integral part of the former Joko “Jokowi” Widodo government’s economic policies. And Prabowo has talked of his intentions to carry on Jokowi’s domestic processing policy on multiple occasions. 

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