Tehran, Iran – Energy ministers of Iran and Indonesia emphasized expansion of bilateral ties in the energy sector on Wednesday October 14, 2015. They also called for further engagement of Iranian companies in Indonesia’s energy market.
Iranian Minister of Energy Hamid Chitchian and his Indonesian counterpart Sudirman Said discussed various ideas to operationalize cooperation in the field of power generation.
Houshang Falahatian, Deputy Energy Minister in Electricity and Abbas Aliabadi, president of MAPNA Group accompanied Chitchian in this meeting. The Indonesian delegation also included Alwi Shihab, president’s special envoy in Middle East affairs.
This is the second time the Indonesian Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources visits Iran during the last six months. He had visited MAPNA factories during his first visit. Mr. Said stressed that his recent visit is a prelude to the Indonesian president’s visit to Iran in future and aims to cement bilateral ties and facilitate negotiations in the area of energy security and transfer.
Sudirman Said stated that “for Indonesia, increasing energy generation capacity is a key strategy in economic development, although there are shortcomings in this area at the moment. The Indonesian government’s approach is to diversify energy sources and exploit clean, renewable energies such as solar, wind and geothermal sources.”
The event was followed by a lunch meeting hosted by MAPNA Group where Deputy Energy Minister Houshang Falahatian introduced MAPNA’s capacities. The delegations highlighted the necessity to lay the groundwork for active participation in order to develop Indonesia’s power plant infrastructure.
MAPNA Group President Abbas Aliabadi also expressed interest in investment and active engagement in Indonesia’s energy market. “For the first phase, MAPNA is ready to invest in Indonesia’s electricity sector in order to increase the country’s generation capacity for one-thousand megawatts,” he said. Aliabadi also proposed MAPNA running a power plant service center in Indonesia.
Indonesian Energy Minister Sudirman Said also expressed satisfaction with MAPNA’s Belawan overhaul and life time extension (LTE) project. He also hoped for future cooperation between the conglomerate and Indonesia’s energy sector.
