TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Coordinating Minister of Maritime Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan claims to have prepared several strategies to reduce Indonesia`s oil and gas imports to avoid trade balance deficit in the long run.

“Surely it will not be in 2019 because it involves industries. I would say that positive impacts could be felt in 2020-2021,” said Luhut yesterday, Dec. 18, at the National Development Planning Agency (BPPN) headquarters.

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One of the ways according to Luhut is to boost the domestic production of electric vehicles as South Korea’s Hyundai has shown interest upon building its EVs in Indonesia. Luhut is eyeing on making Indonesia as a hub for electric vehicles.

Moreover, Luhut said that the development of electric vehicles will be supported by the establishment of a lithium battery factory in the Morowali Industrial Area which is scheduled to begin construction early in 2019.

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Lithium battery makers such as LG and Panasonic, according to Luhut, have shown interest to invest. “If we use electric vehicles, we can reduce our crude oil import,” he said. Other than batteries, the government is also studying the production of green diesel fuel based on palm oil.

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