Jakarta. President Prabowo Subianto will seek to attract foreign investments from American auto giant Ford and German counterpart Volkswagen when he goes on his first foreign trip later this month, a minister said on Monday.

Prabowo plans to spend most of November abroad, just weeks after taking office.

In Brazil, the club of rich countries, including Germany and the USA, will meet with the leaders of the G20. The government confirmed that Prabowo will attend the Peruvian forum of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), another alliance of which the United States is also a part. Before coming to the multilateral forum, the newly appointed president will visit China and the USA and meet with their respective leaders Xi Jinping and Joe Biden.

According to State-Owned Enterprise Minister Erick Thohir, Prabowo is set to lend extra support to Indonesia’s goal of developing the electric vehicle (EV) ecosystem while traveling abroad.

“Regarding Mr. President’s (upcoming) foreign tour, I told the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Sugiono) to include it in his (Prabowo’s) agenda… for the president to initiate discussions on promoting Ford Motor Company’s investments in Indonesia. The same goes for Volkswagen,” Erick told the country’s lawmakers during a hearing in Jakarta.

“Indonesia wants to play a role in the global electric vehicle battery supply chain,” Erick said.

Nickel miner Vale has partnered with Ford and Chinese cobalt supplier Huayou to build a $4.5 billion nickel processing plant in Kolaka in Southeast Sulawesi. According to media reports, Vale was looking to work with Volkswagen for a high-pressure acid leaching plant that extracts precious metals from laterite ores in the South Sulawesi village of Sorowako. The Indonesian government holds a 34 percent stake in Vale through state mining holding company MIND ID.

Attracting foreign investors has been a big part of Indonesia’s grand plan to industrialize mining. Since 2020, Indonesia has stopped exporting unprocessed nickel ore for the purpose of producing semi-finished or finished products in its own country. In this way, the country with an abundance of nickel can send goods that can provide a greater boost to the economy. Import restrictions on nickel, a key component in electric vehicle battery production, also aim to encourage global automakers and battery manufacturers to set up production facilities in Indonesia.

This strategy for Indonesia to move up the EV value chain was an integral part of the economic policies of the former Joko “Jokowi” Widodo government. And Prabowo has mentioned many times his intention to continue Jokowi’s domestic policy.

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