Jakarta, November 03, 2025 – The Europe Today: Indonesia’s Minister of Higher Education, Science, and Technology, Brian Yuliarto, emphasized the urgent need for national collaboration to enhance the country’s technological self-reliance in rare earth elements.
Speaking on Monday in Jakarta, Minister Yuliarto described such collaboration as essential for Indonesia’s economic and technological advancement. He highlighted that a nation’s prosperity depends not only on its natural resources but also on its ability to master and implement research-driven technology.
“We must have a strategy; the key to utilizing rare earth elements lies in mastering technology and building industry,” he stated. Yuliarto, who also chairs the Mineral Industry Agency (BIM), pointed to countries like Japan, South Korea, and China as models, noting that their progress was achieved through strategic mineral processing and technology development.
“Mastery of national technology is the only way to prevent Indonesia from repeating history, when natural resources were exported cheaply but later re-imported as high-value finished goods,” he added.
Supporting this view, Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) Rector Tatacipta Dirgantara called for cross-disciplinary collaboration in research on rare earth elements and strategic minerals. He stressed that the management of Indonesia’s natural resources should be underpinned by science and technology.
“Through synergy between faculties, research centers, and the industrial sector, ITB is ready to strengthen academic contributions from upstream to downstream,” Dirgantara said.
Indonesia possesses 15 metallogenic belts resulting from magmatic mineralization, spanning approximately 15,000 kilometers, though only half have been explored.
Deputy Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Yuliot Tanjung earlier noted that Indonesia’s potential in critical minerals and rare earth metals remains largely untapped. “We have significant potential for critical minerals and rare earth metals. This has not been fully utilized, even though domestic industry and downstream technology development need it,” he remarked.
