Indonesia, Germany sign cooperation in clean energy

The Indonesia and German governments signed on Wednesday a Declaration of Intent to accelerate the development of clean and renewable energies and energy conservation in Indonesia in order to meet the Indonesian people?s energy needs and mitigate the impacts of climate change.

The Declaration of Intent was signed by Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Sudirman Said and Germany?s Minister of Economy and Energy Uwe Beckmeyer, the ministry said in a statement.

The Declaration of Intent contains the following important points: the Governments of Indonesia and Germany will cooperate in developing new and renewable energies through state owned enterprise and private companies by facilitating investment by both parties; both parties will also cooperate in research, transfer of technology and intensive exchange of information on new and renewable energies.

In his speech, Bekmeyer said it is necessary for Indonesia to develop clean energy and the Government of Germany is ready to support the efforts either through the government-to-government or business-to-business schemes. He noted that during President Joko Widodo?s state visit to Germany last month, several business cooperation agreements were signed to accelerate the development of national electricity.

Meanwhile, Sudirman said, ?We realize that there is now an urgent need to develop clean and renewable energies. One of our focuses now is how to increase the electrification ratio. It is necessary to cooperate with strategic partners to support the efforts,? Sudirman said.

The Governments of Indonesia and Germany already carried out several projects to cooperate in developing clean and renewable energies, including the one executed through Deutsche Gesellschaft f?r Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). The German government donated 3.4 million euros in grant for the project.

Editing by Johannes Simbolon