TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo stated that the country has all components needed to produce electric vehicles or EV. Indonesia, he said, has a huge opportunity to develop the industry ecosystem.

“We have nickel. We have copper, We have tin. All components needed in producing electric cars are in Indonesia,” said the President at the opening of the 2023 XVIII PP Muhammadiyah Youth Conference, as quoted from Antara.

“We must have products that make other countries depend on us. And the raw materials are all in Indonesia. As I often say, the ecosystem of EV batteries will grow big,” he added.

The state head further explained that the country must now integrate the downstream industries of nickel on Sulawesi Island and copper on Sumbawa and Papua, as well as bauxite in West Kalimantan and the Riau Islands.

“Everything can be integrated so EV battery and its ecosystem can grow even bigger to produce electric cars which in the future are needed by all countries,” he said.

“Don't let decades or even hundreds of years have passed since the VOC (colonial period) but we keep exporting raw materials, so we don't have added value,” said Jokowi, adding that the downstream project of natural resources would be one of the efforts to push Indonesia to be a developed country.

ANTARA

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