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ANT/RI, Iceland agree to develop clean energy
"President Yudhoyono and President Olafur agreed Indonesia and Iceland would develop cooperation in the field of geothermal energy, develop geothermal know-how or centre of excellence," presidential spokesman/staff for international relations Dino Patti Djala said here on Monday.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono met with Iceland`s President Olafut Ragnar Grimson for 30 minutes on the sidelines of the World Geothermal in Nusa Dua, Bali on Monday.
Iceland has so far been know as a country with a lot of experience in geothermal energy development.
Dino also mentioned about the need to expand the cooperation to also include members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), China, African and Latin American countries.
"So this will be a concrete project between Indonesia and Iceland which hopefully will help contribute to the development of clean energy in the world," he said.
Dino said the cooperation was expected to also contribute to the world`s economy especially with regard to climate change.
"So there have been agreements made to develop clean energy and to reduce dependency on fossil fuels there will be closer cooperation between Indonesia and Iceland," he said.
Indonesia is a country that has the world`s largest geothermal sources comprising around 40 percent of the world`s reserve while the use of the energy in the country is still low or below five percent.
Indonesia and Iceland realized cooperation in the field by signing a memorandum of understanding in 2007.
As an initial stage Reykjavik Energy Invest (REI) cooperated with PT Pertamina Geothermal Energy (PGE) in the development of a 200MW geothermal power plant.
Pertamina also sent 24 employees to Iceland to study geothermal energy there.
Apart from discussing geothermal energy President Yudhoyono and President Olafur also discussed fishery.
"Around 70 percent of Iceland`s economic activities is fishery-based while Indonesia is a martime country," he said.So, the two had shared their countries` experience in fishery, he said.
President Olafur, his wife and delegation stayed in Indonesia were in Indonesia for five days for the World Geothermal Congress.(*)
