JAKARTA - The Indonesian government has invited the European Union and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to invest in mangrove planting, which is estimated to cost Rp16 trillion. This was conveyed by Luhut Binsar Panjaitan, Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment after mangrove planting event in Brebes, Central Java, yesterday (22/10).
He said that the government will plant mangroves on 600 thousand hectares (Ha) of land in total in the next four years. For this plan, he said, large investments from foreign investors are needed. "My deputy, Mrs Nani, will go to Abu Dhabi and also lobby European investors to invest in Indonesia," he said.
According to him, the mangrove planting plan is expected to build international public trust in Indonesia in terms of environmental awareness. The Indonesian government, he said, really cares about environmental preservation.
"The Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries are very concerned with the environment, so they (the world) don't have to teach us about the environment," he said. (LK/AR)