TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan met with the CEO of Tesla Inc. Elon Musk at GigaFactory, Austin, Texas, United States. Luhut claimed that the meeting made Elon interested in the potential of Indonesia’s nickel industry.

“The biggest relief for me was when Elon said the reason for his interest in this collaboration which was due to my presentation on the huge potential of the nickel industry in Indonesia which changed his perception,” said Luhut via his Instagram account @luhut.pandjaitan on Tuesday, April 26.

Luhut said Elon considered the nickel industry to be highly promising as it would be able to supply raw materials for batteries of electric vehicles. Elon was also enthusiastic about meeting the Indonesian representatives as claimed by his assistant, he added.

Luhut was thus pleased with Elon’s different response which was previously quite rigid in seeing Indonesia’s nickel and EV industry. He mentioned that Elon would change his schedule to meet with President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo on May 14, 2022. The latter was also scheduled to visit SpaceX.

Elon Musk was also invited to G20 which is slated to be held in Bali in November 2022.

“I hope this is not our last meeting and there will be more discussions regarding the progress of the nickel industry in Indonesia with high technology, which can bring our country into the global supply chain of the electric vehicle industry,” said Luhut.

Read: Minister Luhut Meets Elon Musk; Discussing Nickel, EVs

FAIZ ZAKI