Joe Biden and Elon Musk Will Come to Bali for G20

Liputan6.com, Jakarta - The US President Joe Biden has confirmed to attend the G20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia. The richest man on Earth, Elon Musk, is also announced to come around the same date.

The G20 summit will be held for two days on November 15-16.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stated that President Biden will bring multiple issues in his three-day visit. 

"The President will be in Bali, Indonesia from November 13th-16th for the G20 Leaders’ Summit," said Jean-Pierre. 

"He will work with G20 partners to address key challenges such as climate change, the global impact of Putin’s war on Ukraine, including on energy and food security and affordability, and a range of other priorities important to the global economic recovery," she elaborated. 

Elon Musk will also be in Bali, according to the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin). The new owner of Twitter will attend the B20 Summit.

The B20 Summit will be held on November 13-14, just before the G20 Summit starts. Chairman of Kadin, Arsjad Rasjid, has said that businesspeople from 69 countries will come to the event. 

Kadin expresses hope that Elon Musk will decide to invest in Indonesia.

"The point is this: Elon Musk has to come to Indonesia. After coming and meeting with Indonesian people, hopefully Elon Musk will invest," said Arsjad. 

As for the other leaders, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen will come to Bali for the summit. However, the President of Russia Vladimir Putin has yet to confirm, although President Joko Widodo previously said he would come.

The government of Indonesia predicts the wave of the new COVID-19 variants will peak in either December 2022 or January 2023. The cases in Indonesia are currently rising with the G20 summit only less than two weeks away. 

The COVID-19 Weekly Epidemiological Update Edition 116, which was released on November 2, reveals that Indonesia got 19,661 new cases from October 24 to October 30. The figure from Indonesia was the largest among the ASEAN countries during the same period.

New COVID-19 variant XBB has already entered Indonesia. Meanwhile, the United States of America is threatened by the BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 variants which are currently spreading in New York and California. 

Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said on his Instagram that more cases are emerging in Bali and Java. He noted that there were more than 5,000 cases in the past week. 

Central Java and Yogyakarta Provinces are under spotlight for having more cases.

"According to the various data that we monitor and based on the previous Covid-19 cases, the peak of the various new variants is predicted to happen between the next one or two months. Especially for Java-Bali region, the confirmed cases are increasing in all Provinces of Java and Bali," said Minister Luhut on his Instagram on Friday (4/11). 

Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan asks the public to keep following the health protocol, including to wear masks in indoor settings. Moreover, the government will keep the public activity restrictions (PPKM system).

Maulandy Rizky Bayu Kencana and Ade Nasihudin Al Ansori contributed to this report.