Joko Widodo flies high with Garuda in Europe

JAKARTA -- National airline Garuda Indonesia on Tuesday upgraded an order for Airbus A330s and signed a $1.2 billion engine deal in London with Rolls-Royce in the presence of President Joko Widodo.

Garuda had replaced an order for seven A330-300s with one for 14 A330-900neo (new engine option) aircraft -- the re-engined version of the bestselling twin-engine wide-body aircraft.

Widodo is on a weeklong tour of Europe that began with Germany and is being followed by visits to Britain, Belgium and the Netherlands. The Garuda shopping spree is part of new business deals expected to be signed during the visits, with the issues of counterterrorism and radicalism also high on the president's agenda in bilateral talks with European leaders.

On Tuesday, Indonesian state mining company Aneka Tambang also announced an $800 million deal with two German companies to develop ferronickel production.

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