As A Gift From Jokowi, The US Agrees To Form A Work Program For Critical Mineral Exports

JAKARTA - The governments of Indonesia and the United States agreed to form a working group through the Limited Free Trade Agreement (FTA) program or a limited free agreement to the United States regarding critical mineral-free trade, one of which is nickel.

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Arifin Tasrif said this was one of the results of a meeting between President Joko Widodo and US President Joe Biden during his visit to Washington DC.

Arifin said that the two countries agreed to form a Critical Mineral Agreement.

"Yesterday, Mr. President Jokowi and Biden spoke, agreed to create a Critical Mineral Agreement, so later there will be a working group to formulate so that it can run," Arifin told the media crew he met at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Building, Friday, November 17.

Arifin revealed that previously there was a rejection from members of American senators against Indonesian minerals, especially nickel.

With the FTA, nickel products can freely enter the American market.

Arifin added, for now, only nickel products are included in CMA because nickel is one of the important products for energy transition and is the raw material for electric vehicle batteries.

"We discussed nickel first because the most critical is nickel," concluded Arifin.