Erick Thohir Says Marc Marquez Until Andrea Dovizioso Will Be Accepted By Jokowi Before Starting The Mandalika MotoGP Race

SOE Minister Erick Thohir. (photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - SOE Minister Erick Thohir revealed that President Joko Widodo would receive a group of MotoGP racers in Jakarta on Wednesday, March 16, 2022.

"I want to convey, Alhamdulillah, later on Wednesday, March 16, 2022, President Joko Widodo will also receive a group of MotoGP racers who are willing to come to Jakarta," said Erick Thohir as quoted by Antara, Sunday 6 March.

The Minister of SOEs said that there were a number of well-known MotoGP racers who would be accepted on March 16, such as Marc Márquez, Maverick Viñales, Joan Mir, Andrea Dovizioso and Francesco Bagnaia, as well as 12 other MotoGP riders who would also be accepted.

Regarding the arrival of the group of MotoGP racers later to Jakarta, the Ministry of SOEs is still consulting with the Presidential Palace, that later the agenda and all decisions will be with the President of the Republic of Indonesia and of course from the Palace.

"We only encourage that this is an extraordinary opportunity for Indonesia to be able to promote a very large motorcycle racing, and most importantly for all of us this MotoGP activity is only the first year and we still have 9 years left," said Erick.

Erick also assessed that the preparations that we have made in the first year are certainly not only the Ministry of SOEs, but the Ministry of PUPR, the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs, the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, and the Coordinating Ministers are very involved. so this is really working together and gotong royong.

Erick also added that the Ministry of SOEs ensured that the field could continue to be controlled with the presence of the NTB Provincial Government and the Field Commander for the Mandalika 2022 MotoGP Preparation Marshal (Ret.) Hadi Tjahjanto, who had to be part of the development of a good system between the center and the regions.

Previously, SOE Minister Erick Thohir revealed that the MotoGP motorcycle racing event in Mandalika, Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara was the right thing to position Indonesia in the eyes of the world.

Erick Thohir said that in 2023, Indonesia will host the U-23 soccer championship then in the same year Indonesia will also host the world championship for basketball together with the Philippines and Japan. This means that when talking about national branding, it is very important to position how advanced Indonesia is and no less important is Indonesia that is global.

According to the Minister of SOEs, there is continuity in positioning Indonesia in the world as a big country. Erick also thanked Dorna for trusting the implementation of MotoGP in Indonesia.