Luhut Claims He Is The First Indonesian Official To Visit The White House 4 Times For 3 Days

Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan with Donald Trump. (Photo: Kemenko Marves)

JAKARTA - The Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan has paid a working visit to the United States. There Luhut met Donald Trump and US Vice President Mike Pence at the White House or the United States White House.

According to Luhut, perhaps this is the first time in Indonesia's history that an Indonesian official has visited the White House four times over three days.

"So on the first day, I went back and forth twice. Because we discussed many things and they really appreciate Indonesia," he said, in an event entitled "CEO Networking 2020: Building Resilience to Economic Recovery", Tuesday, November 24.

Luhut and Trump meet at the White House or the United States Presidential Palace, Tuesday, November 17. There, Luhut was accompanied by the Indonesian Ambassador to the United States M. Lutfi.

As well as meeting Trump, Luhut also met with United States Vice President Mike Pence, CEO of the United States International Development Finance Corporation (IDFC) Adam Boehler, to White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, to Ivanka Trump, the president's daughter.

Luhut said that one of the goals of coming to the White House was to express his gratitude for President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) to President Trump for extending the Generalized System of Preference (GSP).

Coordinating Minister for Marves Luhut Pandjaitan during a conversation with Donald Trump and White House officials. (Photo: Kemenko Marves)

"I say that is our culture, express gratitude, give appreciation to colleagues who will soon be able to complete their duties," he said.

Then, Luhut is also in charge of lobbying potential investors to invest in Indonesia. He also succeeded in attracting an investment of US $ 2 billion or equivalent to Rp.28.2 trillion from the United States International Development Finance Corporation (IDFC) which is placed in the Indonesia Investment Authority or Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF).

"We will immediately follow up, this is a good step," he said.

Luhut admitted that he received a lot of appreciation from high-ranking US government officials regarding the handling of the COVID-19 case or the resulting economic impact.

"They really appreciate Indonesia. One of the things they also appreciate is the leadership of President Joko Widodo and also the handling of COVID and the handling of the economy which they consider very exemplary," he said.

Furthermore, Luhut also said that the United States was willing to help procure vaccines in Indonesia.

"Vice President Pence and I talked for almost 15 minutes. We talked about the issue of vaccines and America, the president wants to help with vaccines," he explained.