Indonesia Highlights: Indonesia Secures Trade Deal with South Korea | Indonesia’s Palm Oil Lawsuit Against EU to Proceed | Tesla to Visit Indonesia in January

The Head of the Agro Products Sub-directorate, Directorate of Trade Defense at Indonesia’s Ministry of Trade, Donny Tamtama explained that the ministry is actively preparing the lawsuit against the EU together with key stakeholders and a legal team.

The aim is for the lawsuit to be submitted to the WTO by next year.

The EU is a key market for Indonesian palm oil. Statistically, 12 percent of Indonesia’s palm oil exports are shipped out to the European Union.

Between January-October 2020, the number has been on a steady decline.

In terms of average trade, Indonesia’s exports to the European bloc dropped by 2.41 percent while the average export volume also decreased 0.56 percent.

Source: https://go.kompas.com/read/2020/12/18/210121174/indonesia-set-to-file-lawsuit-against-eu-for-policy-inimical-to-palm-oil 

3. Indonesia’s Foreign Investment Efforts Pay Off as Tesla Announces Visit in January

US auto company Tesla will be visiting Indonesia in January 2021 as a sign of progress of getting the company to invest in the Southeast Asian country.

Luhut Pandjaitan expressed his confidence that Indonesia has massive potential in becoming a producer of battery-powered electric vehicles ahead of the US company’s arrival.

Tesla’s Elon Musk responded to an invitation from Indonesian President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo on Dec. 11, 2020, during which both parties shared their views on the electric car industry and its main component, electric batteries.

Jokowi invited Musk to invest in Indonesia for the production of electric cars but to also assess whether the country may be suitable as a SpaceX launching pad.

The invitation to woo investment from Tesla proved successful as Musk stated that he will send a team to Indonesia to explore the options.

Source: https://go.kompas.com/read/2020/12/18/212509874/indonesias-investment-push-pays-off-with-a-tesla-visit-in-january-2021