VP Meets with Saudi Crown Prince to Discuss Cilacap Refinery

Jakarta, MINA — Vice President Jusuf Kalla held a bilateral meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman on the sidelines of their visit to Buenos Aries, Argentina, on Friday to discuss bilateral cooperation.

Topics discussed comprised the refinery project in Cilacap, Central Java, in which Saudi Arabia has invested US$6 billion.

“We (Indonesia and Saudi Arabia) have signed an agreement to build an oil refinery in Cilacap. The investment is quite big around US$6 billion. They have called for its acceleration,” Kalla noted in a press statement received by Antara here on Saturday.

He said Prince Salman had also sought cooperation on manpower training and technology transfer.

Speaking in connection with Saudi Arabia`s complaint voiced regarding the project, Kalla clarified that the obstacle currently faced by Indonesia was the land issue.

“We must admit that the problem is because we have not been able to settle the land problem. That is what they want us to speed it up,” he noted.

Kalla said with the presence of the refinery, the government would later be able to store large quantities of oil, thereby helping to reduce oil imports.

“We hope that once the refinery project is completed, we would be able to reduce oil (imports),” he added. (T/RS5/RS1)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)