President Jokowi Meets with Prince Al-Waleed, Discusses Investment

President Jokowi receives a courtesy call from Prince Al-Waleed of Saudi Arabia at the Bogor Palace, on Sunday (22/05)

President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo on Sunday (22/5), at Bogor Presidential Palace, received a courtesy call from Prince Al-Waleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud of Saudi Arabia.

In her press statement after the meeting, Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi who accompanied the President during the meeting said that Prince Al-Waleed told President Jokowi that he intends to increase his investment in Indonesia.

For the record, Prince Al-Waleed is the Chairman of the Kingdom Holding Company and the Al-Waleed Philanthropy, both of which have made investment in many countries.

“So just now President Jokowi received a courtesy call from Prince Al-Waleed. During the meeting, the Prince said that he wants to increase his investment in Indonesia,” Retno said.

Retno also said that Prince Al-Waleed is very pleased with the closer relations between Indonesia and Saudi Arabia after President Jokowi visited Saudi Arabia last year. She added that during the meeting, President Jokowi underlined Indonesia’s priority development.

“So far, Prince Al-Waleed has invested in hotel and banking sectors; yet, what they discussed was the priorities of Indonesia’s development – in infrastructure sector,” Retno said.

In the meantime, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Sudirman Said, who also accompanied President Jokowi during the meeting, added that the Prince’s visit is part of the process to strengthen economic cooperation between Indonesia and Saudi Arabia that began since President Jokowi’s visit to Saudi Arabia in September 2015.

Sudirman added that at that time, the talk between the Indonesian Government and the Saudi Arabian Government produced a number of agreements, one of which to start building an oil refinery in Cilacap, Central Java.

“The building of an oil refinery in Cilacap will immediately begin. Tomorrow (Monday morning, 23/5), both sides will sign an agreement on basic engineering at the office of state-owned oil and gas operator PT. Pertamina that marks the start of the building,” Sudirman said.

Sudirman further said that besides building an oil refinery in Cilacap, PT. Aramco, which is involved in the project, is also planning to build two other oil refineries in Balongan (West Java) and in Dumai (Riau).

In the meantime, Sudirman said that the Saudi Arabian Government has given a permit to the Indonesian Government to build an Indonesian hospital in Saudi Arabia. “We are also allowed to build an Indonesian hospital in Arab Saudi and we have been allocated land there,” Sudirman said.

In addition, Sudirman said that the Saudi Arabian Government has also embarked on the possibility to cooperate with the Indonesian Government in the financial investment sector through cooperation with PT. Sarana Multi Infrastruktur, an infrastructure development financing company owned by the Indonesian Government.

Accompanying the President during the meeting were Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Sudirman Said, Minister of State Secretary Pratikno, and Indonesian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Agus Maftuh Abegebriel.

Meanwhile, the delegation of the Prince includes Ambassador of the Saudi Arabian Kingdom to the Republic of Indonesia Mustafa Ibrahim Al Mubarak, Executive Manager for International Relations Hassna Fahad Alturki, Head of Travel and External Affairs Department Hani Agha, Senior Executive Assistant to H.R.H. Prince Al-Waleed Fahad al Otaibi, as well as Travel and External Affairs Department Coordinator Reem Almorshed. (TKP) (Naster/YM/EP)