President Prabowo: Energy, Food are Key to Nation’s Sovereignty

President of the Republic of Indonesia Prabowo inaugurates the opening of the 49th Indonesian Petroleum Association Convention and Exhibition (IPA Convex) which was held at Nusantara Hall, ICE BSD, Tangerang, on Wednesday (05/21). (Photo by: BPMI of Presidential Secretariat)

President Prabowo Subianto emphasized that the nation’s sovereignty heavily relies on the ability of a country to meet its own food and energy needs.

“The sovereignty of a nation is guaranteed by the nation’s ability to meet the food for its own nation, and second, the nation’s ability to meet its own energy needs. The survival of a nation, the survival of our nation, the survival of nations depends on these two things,” said President Prabowo in his remarks at the opening of the 49th Indonesian Petroleum Association Convention and Exhibition (IPA Convex) held at Nusantara Hall, ICE BSD, Tangerang, on Wednesday (05/21).

Therefore, President Prabowo expressed his appreciation for the achievements in the food and energy sectors in the first six months of his government. President Prabowo highlighted the national food production that has exceeded the target and recorded the largest rice and corn reserves in the history of Indonesia.

“The rice and corn reserves in the government warehouse are the largest in the history of the Republic of Indonesia. Even a while ago we were worried that there were not enough warehouses to accommodate the production, so I ordered to build improvised warehouses,” said the President.

In the energy sector, President Prabowo has also inaugurated the first production of the Forel and Terubuk Fields in Natuna, which produces an addition of 20 thousand barrels of oil and 60 million standard cubic feet of gas per day. Even the project was carried out entirely by the nation’s labor.

“This is not only a mathematical achievement, nor a technical achievement, but a very important milestone in our continuous efforts to achieve national energy self-sufficiency,” said the President.

President Prabowo also emphasized that the achievement was made through policies that were oriented to the interests of the people. He said that steps taken based on common sense and siding with national interests will produce real results in a short time.

“If we depend on continuous imports, our resources spent are very substantial. Almost USD40 billion every year which is actually possible, and should be used to help our people in strategic areas,” said the President.

President Prabowo also encourages to create synergy between the private sector, SOEs and the Government in leveraging national energy potential, including new and renewable energy. The Head of State emphasized the importance of cross-sector cooperation to curb dependence on imported energy.

“Let us work together and collaborate among domestic private sector, foreign private sector, SOEs, the Government from all levels. Let us work together to achieve the goals that we have to achieve,” the President remarked. (BPMI of Presidential Secretariat) (RD/MUR)