On January 18, Investment Minister and head of the Indonesian Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) Bahlil Lahadalia officially announced a plan to ban bauxite ore exports this year.
Mr. Bahlil said: “Despite losing the case at the World Trade Organization (WTO) related to the ban on ore exports, nickelwe continued to fight and decided to ban bauxite ore exports in 2023.”
The announcement was announced by Mr. Bahlil at the discussion “Indonesia Economic Development through Downstream Industry and Inclusive Partnership” on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2023 in Davos, Switzerland. Sy.
[Indonesia kháng cáo lên WTO sau khi bị xử thua vụ kiện nickel]
Minister Bahlil also urged investors to share because the Indonesian government has decided to apply this policy to encourage the development of the downstream processing industry in the country.
“Even if this case goes to the WTO, we will be fine because we have learned from other countries,” Mr. Bahlil asserted, referring to the practice used by some developed countries to support their countries. domestic industry.
According to Mr. Bahlil, in the 16th century, England banned wool exports because they wanted to use raw materials to serve domestic textile factories.
A similar move was also made by China in the 1980s when the government required a guarantee of up to 90% localization rate for products to protect the domestic industry.
“No one is stopping them,” Bahlil said. Indonesia and other developing countries want to achieve similar results with developed countries. This is what we are doing now.”
Mr. Bahlil said that the case of the European Union (EU) in WTO against Indonesia’s nickel ore export ban “is not a big deal” as the government is well aware that downstream processing is a way to elevate its status from developing to developed.
Mr. Bahlil said: “Indonesia is very interested in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and aims to achieve them by 2030. SDGs need to focus not only on the environment sector but also on the distribution of economic growth. where natural resources are available,” while arguing that Indonesians must receive optimal benefits through cooperative economic growth.
Recently, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has announced that Indonesia will stop exporting bauxite ore starting from June 2023 to encourage the domestic processing industry.
Meanwhile, Coordinating Minister of Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto revealed that Indonesia currently has four operating bauxite refineries with a total capacity of 4.3 million tons of alumina per year.
In addition, this country has a refining facility bauxite under construction with a processing capacity of 27.41 million tons of ore and an output of 4.98 million tons of alumina.
(VNA/Vietnam+)