Helmut Timothy, Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo engaged in separate meetings with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang at the State Palace in Jakarta on Friday. The discussions primarily focused on potential investments in Indonesia's new national capital, Nusantara.
Investment Minister Bahlil Lahadalia revealed that both visiting leaders expressed their intention to "dispatch technical teams" to the construction site in East Kalimantan to assess investment opportunities.
"The new capital was a key topic of discussion, and both Korea and China have shown significant interest in its investment potential," Bahlil said.
During the meeting with the South Korean leader, Jokowi also explored ways to expedite collaboration in the electric vehicle battery industry between the two nations.
Indonesia has attracted substantial investments from South Korean companies such as Hyundai and LG in the electric vehicle and related components industry. Hyundai, in particular, serves as Indonesia's largest supplier of electric vehicles, manufactured at its assembly plant in Karawang, West Java.
Taking to the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, Jokowi wrote that Chinese investors had expressed a new commitment to invest approximately $21.7 billion during a recent business forum in Chengdu.
Additionally, Jokowi noted that the Indonesian government anticipates the finalization of bilateral cooperation for the construction of the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed train.
Prime Minister Li, who visited Jakarta to attend the ASEAN Summit, participated in a test ride of the high-speed train on Thursday.
Regarding his meeting with the South Korean President, Jokowi mentioned discussions on bolstering cooperation in the electric vehicle ecosystem.
He further encouraged closer collaboration in agriculture and the green economy, with the aim of providing Indonesian agricultural products with broader access to Korean markets.
The two leaders also discussed bilateral cooperation concerning transportation infrastructure and the facilitation of Indonesian migrant workers' access to South Korea.