Regarding Freeport, President Jokowi: We Have Made Impressive Progress
President Joko Jokowi Widodo responded to the comments made by some parties who considered that the divestment of 51 percent of PT Freeport Indonesia’s shares to the Government of Indonesia through state-owned mining holding company PT Indonesia Asahan Alumunium (Inalum) has not been binding.
The President went on to explain that first process must be the Head of Agreement (HoA), which will be followed up by a second, third agreement, and so on.
“I need to say, the deal took a long process of almost 3.5 years, almost 4 years and this is very tough. If it can get into the Head of Agreement, it has been a very impressive progress,” the President told reporters after giving a public lecture on the 2nd Batch of National Defense Training of Democratic National (Nasdem) Party, in the Nasdem National Defense Academy Building, Pancoran, Jakarta, on Monday (16/7).
The President asserted that it does not mean that the agreement is directly signed, as the negotiation took a long process of 3.5 years.
“Alhamdulillah we are grateful for the progress,” the President firmly said.
As reported earlier, the Government of Indonesia through PT Inalum with Freeport-McMoran Inc. (FCX) and Rio Tinto have signed the Head of Agreement related to the sale of FCX shares and Rio Tinto’s participation rights in PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) to Inalum, at the Ministry of Finance, Jakarta, on Thursday (12/7).
“The Inalums share ownership in PTFI after the sale of shares and rights is now 51 percent from the previous figure of 9.36 percent,” Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati told a press conference at the Ministry of Finance on Thursday (12/7) afternoon.
According to Sri, under the Agreement, Inalum will spend 3.85 billion USD to obtain Rio Tinto’s participation right in PTFI and 100 percent of FCX at PT Indocopper Investama, which owns 9.36 percent of PTFI’s shares.
“The parties will complete this sale before the end of 2018,” Sri said. Meanwhile, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Ignasius Jonan added that, with the signing of this Agreement, the whole agreement with FCX, which includes divestment of 51 percent shares, changes from Contract of Work to the Special Mining Permit (IUPK) have been completed including the commitment to building smelter facilities. (DNA/ES) (MUR/YM/Naster).