ANTARA NEWS



 

The governments of Indonesia and Japan are committed to strengthening cooperation in the automotive industry, especially in vehicle electrification and development of environment-friendly fuels (biofuels) to achieve net zero emissions (NZE).

"The Indonesian Industry Ministry and the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) have become strategic partners in sustainable cooperation to achieve carbon neutrality in the automotive industry," the Industry Ministry's Acting Director General of Metal, Machinery, Transportation Equipment, and Electronics Industry (ILMATE), Putu Juli Ardika, stated on Friday.

The intensification of cooperation was realized by the two parties at the 5th Indonesia-Japan Automotive Dialogue attended by representatives of the Indonesian Automotive Industry Association (Gaikindo), the Indonesian Motorcycle Industry Association (AISI), the Indonesian Biofuel Producers Association (Aprobi), the Association of Car and Motorcycle Equipment Industries (GIAMM), PT Pertamina, and PT Pertamina Patra Niaga in Jakarta on Thursday (June 27).

Ardika explained that in pursuit of deepening the cooperation, Indonesia is committed to implementing a multiple pathways approach to reduce carbon emissions, such as by promoting electrified vehicles (xEV), including Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEV), Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV), Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV), and Fuel-Cell.

For the development of biofuels, his side encourages the use of flexible fuel vehicles that are adaptive to biofuels.

Meanwhile, Director General of the Trade Policy Bureau of METI, Tanaka Kazushige, underscored the need to apply several strategic approaches concomitantly to achieve zero carbon emissions. Hence, he supports implementation of the biofuel promotion and development strategy by the Ministry of Industry to spur decarbonization.

"Biofuels are also a big concern for Japan. Several companies in Japan also have this technology," he remarked.

Furthermore, METI Automotive International Trade Policy Director Kikuchi Takanori highlighted directions for collaboration among Indonesian and Japanese automotive industries to be based on the ASEAN-Japan Next Generation Automotive Industry Collaboration Initiative agreement.