New Delhi: Defence cooperation especially in areas of manufacturing and supply chains, maritime security, space, tourism and healthcare all figured in the talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto Saturday.
“To strengthen our cooperation in the defence sector, we have decided to work together in the areas of defence manufacturing and supply chain. We’ve also emphasised on cooperation in maritime security, cyber security, counter-terrorism and de-radicalisation,” said Modi during the joint press conference with Prabowo here.
The Indian PM added: “The agreement signed today on maritime safety and security will strengthen our cooperation in the areas of crime prevention, search and rescue, and capacity building.”
The Indonesian President is on a state visit to India from 23 January till 26 January. He will be the chief guest at the Republic Day Parade Sunday, making him the fourth Indonesian leader to grace the celebrations.
In 2018, during Modi’s visit to the Southeast Asian country, the two governments agreed to enhance defence ties, and during this visit, discussions were held to take forward the partnership in this sector.
Prabowo announced that a high-level defence delegation will be sent to India as soon as possible to look into possible areas of cooperation in the fields of manufacturing, repair and maintenance amongst other areas.
“It was discussed that we have several common [military] platforms and it would make sense for Indonesia to source some of their requirements for servicing their platforms from India. It was also discussed that shipbuilding is something that Indonesia would collaborate with us. They have extensive requirements,” said Secretary (East) Jaideep Mazumdar on potential areas of cooperation in this sector, in a press briefing later in the day.
Mazumdar added that the high-level delegation announced by the Indonesian President to visit India “will map out” areas of potential cooperation with New Delhi in this sector.
The two countries also announced the exchange of memorandums of understanding in the sectors of health, traditional medicines, digital development, maritime safety and security cooperation, and cultural cooperation.
Prabowo also highlighted Jakarta’s keen interest in having Indian education institutions open campuses in the Southeast Asian country, as well as having a higher number of Indonesian students studying in India.
Jakarta looks to diversify economic ties
The Indonesian President’s visit to India marks the Southeast Asian country’s intention to diversify its economic ties, given that a lion’s share of its total trade worth $480 billion in 2023 was with China, according to the United Nations Trade Statistics. Indonesian exports to China clocked in at $64.9 billion that year, while imports stood at $62.8 billion.
In comparison, its trade ties with India stood at around $30 billion, in 2023-2024. Prabowo in his statement to the press Saturday announced that Indonesia will “prioritise” the economic relationship with India if necessary, marking his clear intention to push for enhancing trade ties with New Delhi.
“We discussed many key sectors of common interest, in which we would like to accelerate the level of cooperation. Of course in the economic field this is very important and I have given direction to my team to accelerate, to expedite, to cut bureaucracy, too much overregulation, and to put the foremost common bilateral interest of India and Indonesia (sic),” said Prabowo.
During his visit, a meeting of the CEO Forum was held, with a number of large Indian companies participating. There are roughly 100 Indian companies functioning in the Southeast Asian country.
“On Sabang port, the President said that the port like other ports in Indonesia is an infrastructure area in which the Indian private sector is welcomed to come and invest in,” said Mazumdar.
In 2018, New Delhi and Jakarta agreed to set up a joint task force to look into development of the port in the province of Aceh, about 700 kilometres from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in India. Officials from the province had visited India in 2023, indicating local interest in the project that is yet to take off.
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