Jakarta. Returning Investment Minister Rosan Roeslani said Monday that he got the additional task of getting resource-rich Indonesia to move up the production value chain for many of its commodities.

Prabowo has appointed businessman-turned-politician Rosan to keep his ministerial post under the newly established Merah Putih or Red and White Cabinet. Prabowo also gave the ministry the extra job of carrying out Indonesia’s resource nationalism. 

This resource nationalism was at the centerpiece of Former President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s economic policies. This policy sees the country banning exports of raw minerals in favor of having them processed by the domestic industries. Indonesia already stopped exports of unprocessed nickel ores and will replicate the policy for other commodities.

“[Mr. Prabowo] has put me in charge of [developing] Indonesia’s downstream industries. And this is not limited to mining, but plantations and fishery. It really is a vast scope of work because we have to really create the added value to spur growth,” Rosan told the press.

Indonesia already stopped its unprocessed nickel ore exports in 2020. Since then, Indonesian exports of nickel-related goods had jumped from just $1.4 billion prior to the ban to around $33 billion, according to Rosan. The minister said: “[Mr. Prabowo] has also tasked me to make sure that [the industries] create jobs. … Going forward, we will prioritize the development of the seaweed downstream industries. We will see what sort of comparative advantage we can offer.”

The government has been trying to woo investors -- both from home and abroad -- to develop Indonesia’s domestic refining and manufacturing industries. Government data shows that Indonesia has posted investments worth Rp 1,245.8 trillion (around $80 billion) in the overall downstream industries since 2020 as of September 2024. Some Rp 514.8 trillion went to the nickel smelting industry.

Rosan officially became the investment minister in August 2024, replacing Bahlil Lahadalia who was appointed as the energy minister. Rosan was Prabowo’s campaign team chief for the 2024 presidential election. Prabowo has also picked mining businessman Todotua Pasaribu as Rosan’s deputy minister.