President Joko Widodo denied that Indonesia has turned protectionist throughout his tenure, saying the gates stay open to all gamers — together with Tesla — who wish to use the nation’s plentiful pure assets, in the event that they arrange crops that may add worth to the native financial system.

Widodo, or Jokowi as he’s popularly recognized at house, stated the federal government has been in talks with electrical carmaker Tesla in addition to Ford and different automobile firms to arrange manufacturing amenities, together with a car manufacturing unit, in Indonesia.

The Indonesian president stated he met Elon Musk, Tesla’s chief government officer and the world’s richest man, in Might after U.S. President Joe Biden hosted a summit for Southeast Asian leaders. Jokowi stated he steered that Tesla may base its whole provide chain within the nation.

“We had plenty of discussions, notably on how Tesla can construct their trade from upstream to downstream, end-to finish ranging from smelter then construct the cathode and precursor trade, construct EV batteries, construct lithium batteries [and] then the car manufacturing unit. Every part in Indonesia, as a result of that is very environment friendly. That is what I supplied,” Widodo advised CNBC in an unique interview on Friday in Serang metropolis in Banten province.

He stated Musk despatched a crew to Indonesia six weeks in the past “to examine the potential of nickel, to examine environmental elements, however the car-related crew has not come.”  

He stated a crew may go to within the “close to future” to guage the potential. Jokowi, who has additionally invited Musk to the G-20 summit, which Indonesia is internet hosting this 12 months in Bali, stated there’s “no determination but” on Tesla’s plans to put money into Indonesia. 

Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest financial system, has considerable pure deposits of tin, copper, nickel, cobalt and bauxite, a few of that are key supplies for electrical car batteries.

Below Jokowi, resource-rich Indonesia has banned the export of key commodities, together with unprocessed nickel in 2020, coal in 2021 and edible oil in April. The final measure was aimed toward stabilizing home costs.

“No, I believe it isn’t protectionism. However we wish that added worth to be in Indonesia … If we preserve exporting the uncooked supplies, those who get the added worth are different nations,” he stated.

In a bid to spice up its financial system and put its pure assets to make use of in home manufacturing, Indonesia desires to maneuver away from exporting uncooked supplies. It additionally desires to be a world participant in EV batteries and a producer of electrical automobiles. 

“We wish to construct an industrial ecosystem for lithium batteries,” Jokowi stated, arguing this might additionally create jobs and generate tax income.