Indonesia And South Korea Sign Cooperation To Develop Critical Minerals

JAKARTA - The governments of Indonesia and South Korea signed a Memorandum of Understanding in the field of developing critical minerals. Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Arifin Tasrif said the cooperation was a form of collaboration between the two countries as a follow-up to The Indonesia - Korea Energy Forum (IKEF) meeting.

"Through this MoU, the two countries can exchange information and human resources in the critical minerals sector and support project cooperation between the private sectors of the two countries," said Arifin before signing the MoU which was also witnessed by the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy of the Republic of Korea Moon Sung Wook. quoted on Tuesday, February 22.

Since having an agreement between Indonesia and the Republic of Korea regarding cooperation in the energy and minerals sector which was signed in 2002, the two countries have established good relations at the government and private sector levels.

The MoU was signed between the Director General of Mineral and Coal, Ridwan Djamaluddin, and the Director General for Resources Industry Policy, MOTIE Korea. This Government to Government (G to G) model cooperation was first initiated by Korea through the 12th IKEF meeting with the title MoU on Cooperation in the Field of Mineral Resources.

On January 19, 2022, Korea again conveyed the urgency of the MoU related to minerals and a new draft MoU to Indonesia which consisted of: Draft MoU on Cooperation on Critical Minerals between the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy of the Republic of Korea (MOTIE) and Draft The Joint Statement of Cooperation for Cooperation on Establishing Cooperative Partnership for Critical Minerals between Korea Mine Rehabilitation and Mineral Resources Corporation (KOMIR) and Mind ID.

Previously, bilateral cooperation in the mineral and coal sub-sector had been established by implementing a cooperation project through the acid mine drainage sand treatment project in Kutai Kartanegara Regency, East Kalimantan in the 2014 - 2016 period with a project value of 3.2 million US dollars.

The two of them have signed a further collaboration to support the mercury-contaminated soil remediation program in Kalimantan for 5 years (2020 - 2025) with a value of US$4.6 million.