Jakarta, IO – President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has given a nod to the extension of PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) contract for the next 20 years. He even admitted that he was happy that the discussion has reached the final stage.
Jokowi conveyed this when meeting the chairman of Freeport McMoRan, Richard Adkerson, at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, Washington DC, Monday (13/11), per Setkab.go.id, Wed (15/11).
“I am happy to hear that discussions about adding 10 percent of Freeport’s shares in Indonesia and extending the mining permit for 20 years have reached the final stage,” said Jokowi.
Separately, interim Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Erick Thohir acknowledged that Indonesia’s relations with the US have kept improving, especially in trade.
Read: Prabowo’s Message For The 2024 Presidential Election: Whoever Wins Must Preserve Unity
“If we look further, our trade surplus with America has reached almost 16 billion US dollars, and the growth in the last few years has been rapid,” said Erick. “American is now Indonesia’s fourth largest investor, which has never happened before.”
In addition to its mining operation in Papua, PTFI is also building a smelter in Gresik, East Java, as part of the government’s downstream processing drive. (un)