Indonesia’s Jokowi Meets Tesla’s Musk Immediately after Nickel Talks | Technology News

JAKARTA (Reuters) -Indonesian President Joko Widodo met Tesla Inc Chief Government Elon Musk on Saturday in Texas to examine prospective investments and engineering, Indonesia’s government explained in a statement.

The conference concerning Musk and Widodo, superior acknowledged as Jokowi, arrived following a spherical of doing the job-degree conversations on a probable financial commitment in Indonesia’s nickel business and offer of batteries for electric autos, Indonesian officers told Reuters.

Representatives from Tesla were in Indonesia very last week for meetings with regards to a possible battery-connected financial investment, Indonesian officials and two persons familiar with the talks have mentioned.

Tesla experienced no speedy remark.

Indonesia for yrs has been making an attempt to secure a offer with Tesla on battery investment decision and possibly for Musk’s SpaceX aerospace business.

Jokowi traveled from Washington, in which he attended a conference of leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), to fulfill Musk at the SpaceX launch web page in Boca Chica, Texas. He invited the billionaire to go to Indonesia in November.

Jokowi is to host a summit of the Team of 20 significant economies in Bali in November. “Ideally in November,” the Indonesian govt quoted Musk as saying.

Musk mentioned there could be place for “partnerships in many issues, since Indonesia has a large amount of opportunity”, the statement explained.

Indonesia has the world’s most important nickel reserves, and Jokowi is keen to build a nickel-based mostly EV marketplace at dwelling – from generating nickel steel, to developing battery elements and assembling electric vehicles. In the past, he has also urged Musk to take into account a rocket launch web site in Indonesia.

Two specials above the past thirty day period have offered new momentum to Jokowi’s drive to establish an EV-relevant marketplace at a time when international automakers have been scrambling to secure materials of battery elements and lessen their reliance on China.

A consortium led by South Korea’s LG Vitality Answer Ltd, the world No. 2 maker of EV batteries, introduced options past thirty day period to make investments $9 billion in Indonesia as element of a deal that would incorporate everything from nickel refining to creating battery cells in Indonesia.

LG’s much larger rival, China-primarily based Contemporary Amperex Engineering, a Tesla provider, announced a $9-billion Indonesia expenditure in April.

(Reporting by Stanley Widianto in Jakarta Added reporting by Ed Davies, Norihiko Shirouzu, Gavin Maguire and Fransiska Nangoy Creating by Kevin Krolicki Enhancing by William Mallard)

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