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Indonesia: Indonesia, NZ to Partner on Geothermal Projects

2012/12/22

New Zealand and Indonesia have reaffirmed their commitment to boost their bilateral relations, with both nations agreeing to focus on collaborating on geothermal energy projects.

In a press conference after the fifth annual Joint Ministerial Commission conference on Tuesday, visiting New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully and his Indonesian counterpart, Marty Natalegawa, agreed that collaboration in the geothermal energy sector and other renewable energy projects was a priority for both nations amid increased concerns over climate change and other environmental issues.

“I think that the area of geothermal cooperation is going to be of enormous promise between our nations and I’m personally very committed to seeing us take that forward,” McCully told reporters.

Marty said that there was a long history of cooperation between Indonesia and New Zealand on geothermal energy, but that climate change had brought the issue to the forefront of both governments’ attention.

“In recent years, the importance [of geothermal energy] has obviously very much elevated given the recent concerns about energy security [and] concern about the environment,” he said. “Geothermal activity provides strong opportunity for us to be able to address both energy security issues inclunding environmental concerns.”

New Zealand backed geothermal energy programs were launched in June &mdash in Sumatra and the other in Sulawesi. The projects, which are managed by Pertamina Geothermal Energy, were set up with $300 million in financing from the World Bank and $6.5 million in technical assistance grants from New Zealand, according to figures from the World Bank.

McCully added that New Zealand was already well established in the geothermal sector, with 15 % of its energy coming from geothermal sources.

“Without a doubt New Zealand possesses the kind of expertise and technical capacities that we wish to partner with,” Marty said. “Certainly when we speak of cooperation between our nations, geothermal energy must be ... a common endeavor [for] our sides.”

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