The President is not interested in talking about a long-term strategy if he cannot see real progress in less than a year. This “credo” held true during his visit to the United States last week, where he first attended a meeting between ASEAN leaders and US President Joe Biden in Washington, and next, attended a business talk with Elon Musk in Texas.

“Looking forward to a stronger ASEAN-US partnership. See you in Bali for the G20,” the President wrote in the White House guest book. The last sentence was clearly aimed at Biden, reminding him that Indonesia is ready to welcome the US president when Indonesia hosts the Group of 20 summit in Bali in November.

With other leaders of ASEAN, minus those from the Philippines and Myanmar, Jokowi attended the US-ASEAN special summit from May 12-13.

From Washington, Jokowi flew to Texas to meet with Tesla owner Elon Musk on Saturday. An advanced team led by Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Pandjaitan had paved the way for Jokowi’s Texas trip.

The meeting between Musk and Jokowi came after a round of working-level discussions on a potential investment in Indonesia's nickel industry and the supply of batteries for electric vehicles.

Representatives from Tesla were in Indonesia earlier this month for meetings regarding a potential battery-related investment. Indonesia has been trying to secure a deal with Tesla on a battery investment and a rocket-launch site for Musk's SpaceX aerospace company for years.