The signing of the cooperation was conducted in Allentown, the United States, on Wednesday (Nov 11).
The agreement was signed by PTBA President Director, Arviyan Arifin; President Director of Pertamiona, Nicke Widyawati; and Chairman, President & CEO of Air Products, Seifi Ghasemi, in the presence of Indonesian State-owned Enterprises (SOE) minister Rini Soemarno.
Soemarno stated that the acceleration of the development of the downstream mining (downstreaming) was a concrete step taken by the government to support the creation of added values in the mining sector while, at the same time supporting the efforts to economize the state`s foreign exchange.
The development of downstream mining will also bring a great impact to Indonesia, especially in the anticipation of the current account deficit.
"I would like to thank Pertamina and Bukit Asam for their active participation in the development of coal in the downstream area. Indonesia should continue to develop the downstream coal mining industrial sector in order to reduce imports and increase exports," Soemarno noted.
The cooperation includes coal gasification development in the Peranap Coal Mining of Riau Province to produce coal into dimethylether (DME) and synthetic natural gas (SNG).
Reporting Mentari Dwi Gayati
Editing by Yoseph Hariyadi
Reporter: Antara
Editor: Andi Abdussalam
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