JAKARTA, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- The Indonesian government focuses on the downstream industry of mineral and coal mining especially nickel to attract foreign investors, State-owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir said.
Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd (CATL) from China and LG Chem Ltd. from South Korea have hinted that they'd like to join a nickel supply chain project worth more than 20 billion U.S. dollars in Indonesia, he said in a statement as quoted by Antara news agency on Wednesday.
"This is a fresh air. Indonesia which has abundant mineral resources for its downstream industry receives good responses from foreign investors, proving that Indonesia's policy on the matter is right," the minister remarked.
According to Thohir, the presence of foreign investors in Indonesia would make the country's competitive edge stronger in support of energy resilience.
Indonesia is known as the biggest producer and exporter of nickel as the main raw material for electric-vehicle batteries in the world, which could meet 27 percent of the needs of the global market, he said.
He pointed out that his ministry's policy on making business model innovation in the country's industry was expected to increase the value of Indonesia's nickel supply chain in a bid to obtain benefits and develop the domestic lithium battery industry. Enditem
