JAKARTA — Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said Thursday ahead of a visit to Japan that he will seek more Japanese investment in his country's maritime industry as it seeks efforts to transform itself into a maritime power.
Mr Jokowi, speaking in an interview with Kyodo News, said he will convey that request directly to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe when he visits Japan on Sunday for a four-day state visit, part of a two-nation trip that will also take him to China.
"Two-thirds of Indonesia (consists of) water, so we plan to improve and build our seaports and deep sea ports (in order) to lower our logistics costs," he said.
"Japan has good experiences in maritime industry, (as well as good) coast guard. If we have a good cooperation, we can improve our maritime industry," he added.
Since coming to power last October, Mr Jokowi has focused on strengthening Indonesia's maritime security and transforming it into a "global maritime axis" by upgrading port infrastructure and enhancing inter-island connectivity.
According to the president, his Japan visit will also focus on power plant projects in light of Indonesia's huge demand for electricity to develop its industrial sectors.
During the interview, he touched on the development of a planned construction of a US$4 billion (130 billion baht) thermal power plant project funded by an Indonesia-Japan consortium in Batang Regency in Central Java province.
The project has been stalled for four years amid on-again, off-again negotiations with local residents on land acquisition, though early this month the government claimed that the negotiations have been completed, paving the way for construction to begin this year.
"(The) Batang (power plant project) is very important because it's already been four years and there is no progress. (But) I hope that within this week, it (will have been) already settled," the president said.
The 2,000-megawatt coal-fired power plant project, meant to supply electricity to 13 million people in Central Java province, has been promoted by the consortium formed by the Japanese government-linked Electric Power Development Co and Japanese trading house Itochu Corp.