Jakarta (ANTARA) - President Prabowo Subianto has called for expediting the downstreaming of fisheries, forestry, agriculture, oil and gas, as well as coal and mineral commodities.He issued the directive to Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources and head of the task force for the acceleration of downstreaming and national energy resilience, Bahlil Lahadalia.
"President Prabowo's direction, in several meetings with us, encourages downstreaming of all sectors. There are 26 to 28 commodities, which will be downstreamed," Lahadalia informed here on Friday.
So far, he said, the government has been focused on nickel. However, that does not mean that other commodities will not be subject to downstreaming efforts.
"Copper downstreaming is now underway. Then bauxite. Then we are encouraging (the downstreaming) of tin. We are also currently encouraging the downstreaming of oil and gas," he added.
Regarding coal downstreaming, he informed that the government is trying to produce dimethyl ether (DME) to replace LPG, which is mandatory for former mining areas (PKP2B).
The push for downstreaming aims to create sufficient employment opportunities, he said. It is hoped that the jobs created through downstreaming would provide high wages, he added.
"If it is downstreaming, let's not talk about regional minimum wages (UMR). If UMR is labor-intensive, downstreaming is also labor-intensive but with high salary," Lahadalia expounded.
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Thus, not only could it increase the value of traded commodities, but also national per capita income.
President Prabowo officially formed the task force, which consists of a number of ministers and heads of institutions, based on Presidential Decree Number 1 of 2025.
The task force aims to accelerate downstreaming in various sectors and the realization of national energy resilience.
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According to the presidential decree, which was signed by President Prabowo on January 3, 2025, the acceleration of downstreaming will target sectors such as minerals and coal, oil and gas, agriculture, forestry, and maritime and fisheries commodities.
Downstreaming in these sectors will aim to increase the added value of commodities produced domestically.
