Luhut Invites Chinese Foreign Minister To Have A Look At Lake Toba, So Build A Hotel?

Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan (right) with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (left) at Lake Toba, North Sumatra, Tuesday, January 12. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The Coordinating Minister (Menko) for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan received a visit from China's Foreign Minister (Menlu) Wang Yi in Parapat, a sub-district directly adjacent to Lake Toba, North Sumatra, on Tuesday, January 12 yesterday.

On that occasion, Coordinating Minister Luhut who was accompanied by Deputy Minister of Trade (Wamendag) Jerry Sambuaga also had the opportunity to hold talks with Foreign Minister Wang Yi about increasing strategic cooperation in the fields of investment and trade.

"The arrival of my friend, Mr. Wang Yi, to Lake Toba is expected to develop good and sustainable cooperation between the two countries. Tomorrow, Mr. Wang Yi will be welcomed by the President of the Republic of Indonesia and hear first hand the President's hopes for the strategic cooperation of the two countries that have has been established so far, "said Coordinating Minister Luhut as quoted by Antara, Wednesday, January 13.

Wang Yi is scheduled to visit Indonesia for two days, namely on January 12-13, 2021 in a series of visits to four member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) namely Myanmar, Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam, and the Philippines on 11-16 January 2021 .

Wang Yi and some of his delegates are scheduled to do hiking and visit several historical places around Lake Toba.

Coordinating Minister Luhut himself has indeed invited Foreign Minister Wang Yi to visit Toba and see first hand the beauty of Lake Toba, especially Foreign Minister Wang Yi is known to have a hobby of hiking.

His visit to Toba, which was originally scheduled to take place in February last year, was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Foreign Minister Wang Yi will leave for Jakarta, Wednesday, to follow the agenda of meeting with Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi and having an audience with President Joko Widodo (Jokowi).

Previously, in mid-December 2020, Luhut said that investors, especially from China, would continue to invest in the Lake Toba area, North Sumatra. One of them is investment in the form of hotel development.

At that time, Luhut promised that Wang Yi would come to Lake Toba in January 2021. Luhut did not specify the amount of investment that had been invested and would be added by Chinese entrepreneurs, but what was clear was that the value would be quite large.

"It's big enough, I don't know how many trillions, I don't remember the figure. It's quite big," he explained.

Regarding the investment target, Luhut did not clearly state it. However, he stressed, the government expected a lot of cooperation between Indonesia and China.

Furthermore, Luhut also said that the government does not only expect investment from China, but is also open to other countries.

"We don't know, there can be many. It can be of various kinds. A lot of our cooperation with China is currently running. In the future there are many more that we can cooperate with. Now China is good, with Japan is okay, we are also with Hong Kong okay, no. there is a problem I think, "he explained.

On the other hand, Luhut said, for next year the focus of the Toba Fund development is to improve existing facilities, especially those directly related to tourists.

"We fix the hotel, we fix 10 tourist spots, as well as the toilets. So we fix it," he said.

Previously, Luhut had revealed that China plans to invest in Lake Toba up to 10 billion US dollars. According to Luhut, investment in China and other countries is the hard work of the government which continues to strive to drive the economy, including in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the midst of efforts to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, he said, the government is also focusing on the national economic recovery program (PEN). One of the sectors of the PEN program is Indonesia's mainstay sector, namely tourism.

The government through the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment, he said, is developing tourist destinations that prioritize the five main areas, namely Lake Toba, Labuan Bajo, Borobudur, Mandalika, and Likupang.