Indonesia has begun talks with Australia on a plan to invest in a long-term lithium mining and processing partnership that could make the two countries the dominant global supplier of electric vehicle batteries, and aid the Southeast Asian giant’s green-energy transition.
Arsjad Rasjid, one of Indonesia’s most powerful businessmen and chairman of the B20 business leaders’ summit being held in the lead-up to the G20 leaders’ talks this week, said Australia was the “missing link” in Indonesia’s electric-vehicle industry dream and the issue would be discussed after Anthony Albanese flew into Bali on Monday.
In a keynote speech to the B20 summit on Monday before attending the leaders’ summit of the world’s 20 largest economies on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Prime Minister will say Australia is committed to “co-operating with other nations to help reduce their emissions, grow their economies and improve living standards”.
“For governments and business, investing and developing clean energy will enhance our individual energy security and it will strengthen our collective action on climate change,” Mr Albanese will say.
The Prime Minister has made the commitment to deepen trade and investment with Indonesia and the region a key plank of his government’s international agenda, and on Saturday announced former Macquarie bank chief Nicholas Moore as the new Southeast Asian envoy tasked with achieving that aim.
Australia is home to at least half the world’s lithium resources, while Indonesia has the world’s largest reserves of nickel, another key ingredient for batteries. But China still dominates the world’s lithium supply chain, raising concerns about security of supply in an era of intense competition and increasing decoupling of US-China trade.
Mr Rasjid, chairman of energy giant Indika, said Indonesian business and investment chiefs had begun discussions in Australia in recent weeks on investing in Australia’s lithium resources and how they could work with Australia to process the mineral, which is a critical component for electric-vehicle batteries.
“If we can work together on this then Indonesia and Australia could be the global supply chain for EV batteries,” Ms Rasjid said. “Indonesia is very serious about investing in lithium mines.”
Australia and Indonesia, as two of the world’s largest coal exporters, have historically competed in the global minerals sector, but the EV battery industry presents an opportunity to work together.
“There is a demand, it’s real, it’s the future and it’s a great example of where we can complement each other rather than compete,” Mr Rasjid said. “I spoke to your trade minister (Don Farrell) who is very keen and I am going to speak to your Prime Minister also to start the conversation.”
Mr Rasjid, chairman of energy giant Indika, said Indonesian business and investment chiefs had begun discussions in Australia in recent weeks on investing in Australia’s lithium resources and how they could work with Australia to process the mineral, which is a critical component for electric-vehicle batteries.
“If we can work together on this then Indonesia and Australia could be the global supply chain for EV batteries,” Ms Rasjid said. “Indonesia is very serious about investing in lithium mines.”
Australia and Indonesia, as two of the world’s largest coal exporters, have historically competed in the global minerals sector, but the EV battery industry presents an opportunity to work together.
“There is a demand, it’s real, it’s the future and it’s a great example of where we can complement each other rather than compete,” Mr Rasjid said. “I spoke to your trade minister (Don Farrell) who is very keen and I am going to speak to your Prime Minister also to start the conversation.”
Extracted from The Australian