"Indonesia expects support from China, especially an expert team from Shenzhen, to design and manage the construction of supporting cluster in IKN," Pandjaitan stated at a press conference regarding updates on Indonesia-China cooperation in Jakarta on Monday.
Pandjaitan revealed that his side had also met with the special envoy of the President of the United Arab Emirates, Mohammed bin Zayed (MBZ), who would later join the Shenzen team and the IKN team.
"The special envoy of President MBZ showed enthusiasm in the collaboration with an expert team from Shenzhen. We will develop the nine clusters in IKN Nusantara," he remarked.
Pandjaitan stated that the IKN team had also garnered a high level of interest from Chinese companies. He urged the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) to recommend which companies will be able to contribute to IKN's development.
“The IKN team has received a lot of interest from Chinese companies. We hope that the NDRC can recommend qualified companies to work at IKN," he stated.
Earlier, at a meeting with chairman of NDRC, Zheng Shanjie, in Beijing, China, last week, Pandjaitan echoed President Joko Widodo's message to invite China to invest in IKN Nusantara.
"It is an honor for me to have a meeting with Chairman Shanjie because it is the first time he has met with representatives of Asian countries after he was sworn in," Pandjaitan explained.
During the meeting, they discussed several cooperation projects between Indonesia and China, including the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed train, the Global Maritime Fulcrum-Belt Road Initiative (GMF-BRI), and IKN projects.
The minister also invited him to directly check the cooperation projects between the two countries.
"We discussed several things, starting from the progress (in the construction) of the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Train, the North Kalimantan Green Industrial Area, the GMF-BRI Project, the Herbal Center, South-South Cooperation, Vocational Training, and especially IKN Nusantara whose progress (in development) is on track and expects support from the Chinese government," he noted.
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Translator: Ade Irma J, Resinta S
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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