Indonesia Invites Norway To Invest In The Electric Battery Industry

Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi (left) held a bilateral meeting with Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt in Oslo, Norway, Monday (12/6/2023). (ANTARA/HO-Kemlu RI)

JAKARTA - Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi invited Norway to invest in the development of the electric battery industry while Indonesia was working to build an electric vehicle ecosystem.

On the sidelines of his visit, Retno met with Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt in the country's capital on Monday (12/6).

Oslo Forum is a series of retreats of international conflict mediators, high-level decision-making officials, and other peace process actors.

"Foreign Minister Retno held a bilateral meeting with Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt in Oslo (12/6) discussing forestry cooperation, energy transition and encouraging Norwegian investment in the battery industry in Indonesia," said the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs as reported by ANTARA, Sela, June 13.

Retno also visited Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store and met with Norwegian Minister of Climate and Environment Espen Barth Eide.

" Forestry and green energy cooperation was also discussed in my bilateral meeting with Foreign Minister Huitfeldt," Retno said in Twitter.

Indonesia is committed to developing the downstreaming of the electric vehicle battery industry and building an electric vehicle ecosystem in the country. President Joko Widodo emphasized the importance of downstreaming the industry as an effort to make Indonesia a developed country.

Jokowi explained that Indonesia has the opportunity to become a developed country, one of which is pursued through the electric vehicle industry ecosystem, because according to him all components needed by electric vehicles are in Indonesia.

In an effort to build an electric vehicle ecosystem, the government has issued a regulation on the provision of subsidy assistance for the purchase of Battery-Based Electric Motor Vehicles (KBLBB), namely electric motors and electric cars, which will start on March 20, 2023.

The government will provide subsidy assistance for the purchase of a two-wheeled electric motorbike of IDR 7 million per unit for 200 thousand motorcycles until December 2023.

Meanwhile, four-wheeled subsidies or electric cars will be provided for 35,900 units of vehicles.

Norway is at the forefront of the use of electric vehicles (EVs). Since the 1990s, the Norwegian government has taken a policy of accelerating the EV transition, one of which is by providing tax incentives for EV purchases.

The number of electric vehicle purchases in Norway is also relatively high. In December 2022, more than 80 percent of the new cars purchased in Norway were electric cars, according to McKinsey & Company data.

To date, there are more than 22.000 charging public stations that have been installed to serve more than half a million electric vehicles in the country.

Pada 2022, 79 persen kendaraan mobil baru yang terdaftar di Norwegia adalah kendaraan listrik, kata World Economic Forum (WEF).