Following Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s meeting with Indonesian officials at Gigafactory Texas last month, the country’s president is now planning to meet with Musk, too.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo plans to meet with Musk on an upcoming trip to the U.S., according to statements from a minister on Monday (via Reuters).
The meeting will take place over plans to accelerate Indonesia’s development of nickel for electric vehicle batteries.
According to Indonesia’s Maritime Affairs and Investment Coordinating Minister, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, Tesla officials visited Indonesia to see the country’s nickel production hub Morawali on Sulawesi island.
Tesla Sent Investment Proposal to Indonesia, Confirms Government Official https://t.co/C7LEhwb75B
— TeslaNorth.com (@RealTeslaNorth) February 5, 2021
In a streamed media event, Luhut said, “They will visit Morowali… They are very satisfied with the data they have received so far.”
Luhut also wrote in an Instagram post that he expected, “discussions regarding the progress of Indonesia’s nickel industry development, which is high-tech, which can bring our country into the global supply chain of the electric vehicle industry.”
The Indonesian President, often referred to as Jokowi, is traveling to the U.S. this upcoming week for a summit in Washington D.C. for Southeast Asian leaders.
Tesla supplier Vale SA is based in Brazil and is operating out of Canada for the automaker’s supply, but it also has nickel mining operations in Indonesia.
