President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has reeled in investment commitments from Japanese organizations for the Nusantara Capital City (IKN) project during the Group of Seven (G7) Summit in Hiroshima. On the sidelines of the summit over the weekend, Jokowi met with 33 Japanese delegates comprising three government officials and representatives from 24 companies, four business associations, and two financial institutions.
“That meeting discussed investment cooperation in Indonesia’s priority sectors, mainly highlighting investments in IKN development,” Foreign Minister Retno L.P. Marsudi told an online press conference on Sunday.
The results of the President’s meeting included five memorandums of understanding (MoUs) the IKN Authority signed with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), the Japan International Association for the Industry of Building and Housing (JIBH), the Japan Conference on Overseas Development of Eco-Cities (J-CODE) and the Urban Renaissance Agency (UR). The meeting also resulted in 24 letters of intent (LoIs) between the IKN Authority and Japanese companies, though no details were disclosed at Sunday’s press conference. According to Investopedia, moUs contain broad outlines of an agreement between two or more parties, while LoIs are nonbinding documents that declare a preliminary commitment to do business together.
“And Mr. President called for the Japanese companies to invest in other priority sectors, such as the downstream industry and the energy transition. The President stated several times that he was happy to cooperate with Japan because it had good quality. In the meeting with CEOs, the President addressed several points, that amid global economic uncertainty, the Indonesian economy was one of the most resilient” Retno told reporters.
Jokowi also spoke about investment opportunities in the IKN project during his meeting with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, in addition to electric vehicles, renewables, and the chemicals industry. Citing the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Retno said the Indonesian economy was projected to grow 5% this year and 5.1% in 2024.
On Saturday, Jokowi met with IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva as a side event of the G7 Summit. During that meeting, the IMF presented its assessment of the condition of the Indonesian economy as good and stable, with growth exceeding the global average. Jokowi also met with French President Emmanuel Macron on the sidelines of the G7 Summit, during which the two leaders discussed France’s 500-million-euro (US$541 million) assistance via the French Development Agency (AFD) for Indonesia’s energy transition program. They also spoke about a plan to form a joint venture between Indonesia’s state-owned defense firm PT Len Industri and Paris-based manufacturer Thales. At the summit, Jokowi raised his concern about the sluggish progress of G7 countries in fulfilling their financing commitment to the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) for Indonesia and the JETPs for South Africa and Vietnam.
On Monday, Yamada Junichi, executive senior vice president at JICA, said investors under the agency are ready to support investment in infrastructure for the new capital, such as renewing Balikpapan airport and power supply facilities. Tadashi Maeda, chairman of the board of JBIC, said in the same statement that the lender is committed to supporting the new capital development by focusing investment on renewable energy such as hydropower.
May 22, 2023, The Jakarta Post
(https://www.thejakartapost.com/business/2023/05/22/jokowi-bags-ikn-investment-commitments-from-japanese-firms.html)