Archive for ‘Joko Widodo’

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14/07/2019

Indonesia asks China for special Belt and Road Initiative fund

  • Indonesian finance minister working on loan structure and criteria
Indonesian President Joko Widodo asked Chinese President Xi Jinping for a special belt and road fund at the G20 summit in Osaka last week. Photo: Reuters
Indonesian President Joko Widodo asked Chinese President Xi Jinping for a special belt and road fund at the G20 summit in Osaka last week. Photo: Reuters
Indonesia has asked China to set up a special fund within its Belt and Road Initiative for investment in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy, after offering China projects worth US$91 billion, Indonesian government officials said on Wednesday.
Indonesia has not been among the biggest beneficiaries of China’s trillion-dollar push to create a modern-day Silk Road.
Indonesia says this is because it has insisted that any loan within the initiative’s framework is done on a business-to-business basis to avoid exposing the government in case of default.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo made the request for a special fund during a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sideline of the Group of 20 summit in Japan last week, Indonesia’s Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said.
Japan still leads in Southeast Asia infrastructure race, even as China ramps up belt and road investments: report
Indrawati said she had been given the responsibility of coming up with the fund’s structure, including a proposal to China on the size of the fund and the criteria for loans from it.
“I am currently doing a study about its form, its mechanism, the size of it and of course the consequences of its costs,” she said.

Luhut Pandjaitan, coordinating minister for maritime affairs, said separately the fund should provide loans “with low interest in regards to investment in Indonesia, in partnership with Indonesian companies”.

Pandjaitan, who oversees belt and road projects in Indonesia, previously said the Indonesian government had offered China involvement in about 30 projects, worth US$91 billion, during the second Belt and Road Forum in April.

The most high-profile belt and road venture in Indonesia is a US$6 billion high-speed rail project connecting the capital, Jakarta, to the textile hub of Bandung, awarded to a consortium of Chinese and Indonesian state firms in 2015.

China expert lays out trillion yuan nuclear path for belt and road plan

The project has faced land ownership issues.

Another controversial project is a US$1.5 billion hydropower plant, funded by Chinese banks and being built by the Chinese state firm Sinohydro, in the heart of the Batang Toru rainforest on the island of Sumatra, which is home to the endangered Tapanuli orangutans.

Agus Djoko Ismanto, an executive of the power plant developer PT North Sumatra Hydro Energy, on Wednesday denied disrupting the orangutan habitat. He said 11 per cent of the construction had been completed and it was due to begin operation by 2022.

Posted in Batang Toru rainforest, Belt and Road Initiative fund, China alert, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Indonesia, Indonesian President, Japan, Joko Widodo, PT North Sumatra Hydro Energy, Sumatra, Tapanuli orangutans, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

26/04/2019

Xi meets Indonesian vice president

(BRF)CHINA-BEIJING-XI JINPING-INDONESIAN VICE PRESIDENT-MEETING (CN)

Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) meets with Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla, who is here to attend the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, in Beijing, capital of China, April 25, 2019. (Xinhua/Wang Ye)

BEIJING, April 25 (Xinhua) — Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday met with Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla, who is here to attend the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation.

Xi received a letter from Indonesian President Joko Widodo handed over by Kalla, and asked Kalla to convey his sincere greetings to the Indonesian president.

“I proposed the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road during my visit to Indonesia,” Xi said, adding that the two countries have made new progress in bilateral relations and achieved remarkable results in cooperation in various fields over the past few years by taking the Belt and Road Initiative as an opportunity.

Aligning the joint building of the Belt and Road and Indonesia’s Global Maritime Axis is the overall framework of the bilateral cooperation in the new era, Xi said.

Both sides should identify key areas and directions for cooperation as soon as possible, and implement key projects such as the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway, he said.

“I have proposed to build a new model of international relations featuring mutual respect, fairness, justice and win-win cooperation, with an aim to give a Chinese solution to the problems in today’s world,” Xi said.

That is in line with the “Ten Principles of Bandung Conference” jointly advocated by China and Indonesia 64 years ago, Xi said.

The two sides should communicate and coordinate closely, jointly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries, and build a community with a shared future for humanity, Xi said.

Kalla said that Indonesia is an important partner in international cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative, and is willing to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with China in trade, investment, education and other fields.

Indonesia is willing to work with China to firmly uphold multilateralism, and jointly promote global and regional peace, stability and prosperity, Kalla said.

Source: Xinhua

Posted in Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (BRF), Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), bilateral cooperation, China alert, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Indonesia, Indonesia's Global Maritime Axis, Indonesian President, Indonesian Vice President, Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway, Joko Widodo, Jusuf Kalla, Ten Principles of Bandung Conference, Uncategorized, win-win cooperation | Leave a Comment »

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