"The United States will be a strong partner of Indonesia in the field of energy," he stated aboard a flight from Amsterdam to Abu Dhabi on Wednesday after accompanying President Joko Widodo during his visit to the United States.
The minister remarked that the United States has rich experience and knowledge in the field of energy.
In the meeting with President Widodo, the United States President Obama had expressed readiness to become a strong partner of Indonesia in developing clean energy to mitigate the effects of climate change.
"This is a strong statement for me as an energy minister to develop the next level of cooperation," he affirmed.
He pointed out that energy management in Indonesia has long lacked scientific aspects and has been trapped in the short-term political transaction approach.
"It is still short term. If we start exploring now, we might find oil 10 years later. Renewable energy will take longer, and therefore, we must adopt a scientific approach. Cooperating with the United States and Europe will be very important, and the trend is more open," he noted.
He said Indonesias renewable energy potential, in particular, is still huge, such as hydropower, which can reach 75 thousand megawatts (MW), geothermal 42 thousand MW, wind, sun, and biofuel.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2015
