Bali Compendium Affirms Prohibition Intervention in Downstream
- ANTARA FOTO/Nyoman Hendra Wibowo.
VIVA – In the Trade, Investment and Industry Ministerial Meeting (TIIMM) in Bali last week resulted the Bali Compendium that affirms the prohibition of one country from intervention in investment policies of other countries, such as mining downstream.
The compendium is a complete and concise summary of scientific writings. The compendium confirmed the G20's policy practices in promoting investment for sustainable development.
The Compendium is expected to become a policy reference for each country in designing and implementing strategies to attract sustainable investment. In this case, each country is given the power to formulate its strategy according to its comparative advantage.
With this agreement, there is a new understanding and a new agreement, which was carried out by the G20 countries to respect each other (policies).
It means that the non-binding agreement prohibits one country from intervening in the investment policies of another country, especially in the case of Indonesia, such as downstreaming.
Presiden Jokowi saat meninjau Tambang Grasberg
- Biro Pers, Media dan Informasi Sekretariat Presiden
The Indonesian government is indeed continuing to promote the mineral and coal downstream program to support the creation of added value in the country. Various natural resources owned by Indonesia are processed without any profit for the country.
Through the Bali Compendium agreement, Indonesia intends to prevent the intervention of other parties related to the downstream policy which has been being promoted since two years ago.
Moreover, the Indonesian government's policy of banning nickel ore exports to encourage the domestic downstream nickel industry since January 1, 2020, has disappointed several parties.
The ban on nickel ore exports is regulated in the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Regulation No. 11 of 2019 concerning the Second Amendment to the Regulation of the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Number 25 of 2018 concerning Mineral and Coal Mining.
Furthermore, Indonesia will bring the Bali Compendium to the G20 Summit in November as one of the deliverables in Indonesia's G20 Presidency.
Although it is recognized that the Bali Compendium is a policy instead of fighting a lawsuit at the WTO, the agreement should be understood by the G20 countries. That even developing countries have the opportunity to be able to carry out their policies without the intervention of other parties.
This should be a common guideline, not only by Indonesia, South Africa, and India but also by EU countries, America, which also agrees. As a group that controls 80 percent of the world's economy, the G20 should be able to open up opportunities for its members to develop and advance together.
Downstreaming is not Indonesia's ultimate goal. But it is the first step, for the world can move forward with other developed countries.
