ISLAMABAD: Indonesia has expressed interest in engaging in Pakistan’s largely untapped mineral sector, with Jakarta’s state-owned energy company Pertamina seen as a potential partner for exploration and mining cooperation, a statement from Pakistan’s Information Ministry said this week.
The engagement comes as Pakistan positions mining as a potential engine of long-term growth, following years of underinvestment and stalled projects, and as resource-rich Asian economies increasingly look overseas to secure supplies of critical minerals and diversify investment portfolios.
Government and industry estimates suggest Pakistan’s untapped mineral resources could be worth trillions of dollars, anchored by major copper-gold deposits such as Reko Diq, as well as coal, iron ore and emerging critical minerals. Meanwhile, Indonesia, one of the world’s leading producers of minerals such as nickel, coal and copper, has in recent years expanded the role of its state-owned firms in overseas energy and extractive ventures, driven by rising domestic demand, industrial policy linked to downstream processing and global competition for strategic resources.
Against this backdrop, Federal Minister for Petroleum Ali Pervaiz Malik met Indonesia’s Ambassador to Pakistan, Chandra Warsenanto Sukotjo, on Thursday to discuss cooperation with a particular focus on minerals and exploration, the information ministry said.
