President Joko Widodo met with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in a three-day visit to Sydney at the beginning of July. During the meeting, the leaders discussed boosting cooperation on critical minerals, green economy, longer business visas, and reaffirmed their commitment to regional peace and security.
On the sidelines of the summit meeting between the two leaders, the State Government of Western Australia and the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and industry signed a 2023-2025 Action Plan on the development and processing of critical minerals, notably nickel and lithium, aiming to deliver near-term economic benefits for both countries. This is a significant step for Indonesia towards becoming a regional hub for the EV industry. The agreement will form a commercially viable and symbiotic partnership making use of Indonesia’s large nickel resources and Australia’s lithium resources to become major suppliers in the battery and EV industries. It would also further reinforce economic and trade relationships between the two countries and accelerate their transitions to renewable energy.
Currently, Indonesia’s government is planning to double the lithium pact with Australia to 120,000 tonnes as it strives to build a comprehensive EV industry. According to the Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Pandjaitan, since Indonesia has not gone into other commodities to make batteries aside from nickel, there remains opportunities for new partners and investments, namely lithium hydroxide, graphite anode, electrolyte, and other critical minerals.
