Indonesia announced on Thursday that it secured $44.6 billion worth of investment commitments from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) during the three-day visit of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) to the UAE.
According to Investment Minister Bahlil Lahadalia, who was also part of Jokowi’s delegation for the Indonesia-UAE Business Forum in Dubai, the 19 investment deals will focus on renewable energy and environmental sustainability.
Indonesia’s largest state-owned oil company, Pertamina, is expected to sign a deal on floating solar panels with Abu Dhabi-based renewable energy company Masdar. Moreover, Abu Dhabi-based artificial intelligence company G42 has also agreed to invest in smart city initiatives, telecommunications, and genomics laboratories. Deals were also inked in the fields of aviation, petroleum, and financial payment systems.
The countries will also cooperate in vaccine manufacturing and distribution. In this regard, they agreed to mutually recognise each others’ COVID-19 vaccine certificates and to strengthen the travel corridor arrangement that has been in place since July last year.
“In order to make a quick response to realize the concept of joint investment between Indonesia and the UAE, we have been instructed to take care of all matters related to licensing and other facilitation needed by UAE investors in Indonesia,” Lahadalia said in a statement on Sunday.
Both countries also agreed to speed up discussions on their comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA). The negotiations are part of the UAE’s fervent attempts to expand its access to fast-growing economies such as South Korea, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Turkey.
Following the meeting, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, said: “We have signed agreements with Indonesia in the fields of aviation, petroleum, energy, protection of investments, financial payment systems and others...The value of our trade with them was Dh 7billion in 2020, and we want to double our co-operation with them as a strategic partner to reach new heights.”
As the leader of the most populous Muslim country in the world, Jokowi said that Indonesia and the UAE share common values of moderate Islam and can work together to promote tolerance and act against religious extremism.
“I think this is a great potential. I see that religious moderation and diversity in the UAE are widely respected. And that is the area of cooperation we would like to explore more because we both share the closeness in the vision and characters of moderate Islam that propagates tolerance...We exchange our views and experiences on this, and we have sent many imams [those who lead prayers at mosques] to the UAE. We hope that both countries can promote the concept of religious moderation and tolerance, and enhance the awareness among people on the dangers of extremism and radicalism,” Jokowi said.
UAE to Invest $44.6bn in Indonesia’s Vaccine Manufacturing, Energy, Infrastructure Sectors
They also agreed to mutually recognise each others’ COVID-19 vaccine certificates and to strengthen the travel corridor arrangement that has been in place since July last year.
November 8, 2021
Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, with Indonesian President Joko Widodo. SOURCE: WAM