Since ancient times, India and Indonesia shares deep socio-cultural, political and economic relations. Both the nations are old allies and India was the first major country to recognize Indonesia. The relation between India and Indonesia has grown in the last few decades. At present,  Indonesia is one of the largest trading partners of India in the ASEAN region, with bilateral trade touching $29.4 billion in 2023-24. Both the counties also have robust diplomatic and military relations. In this context Indonesian President, Prabowo Subianto’sfirst state visit to India as the chief guest of India’s republic day celebration is regarded as an important milestone of India-Indonesia bilateral relations.

In this perspective the Institute of Social and Cultural Studies in collaboration with Universitas Dwijendra, Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia organized a webinar titled “President Prabowo Subianto’s Visit to India: The Next Chapter in India-Indonesia Partnership” on 11th February, 2025. Chaired by Dr. Gautam Kumar Jha, Professor, Centre for Chinese and South East Asian Studies, Jawarharlal Nehru University, New Delhi it had keynote speaker H.E. Shri Sandeep Chakravorty, Ambassador of India to Indonesia and speakers namely Dr. Pankaj Vashisht, Associate Professor and Coordinator, ASEAN-India Centre( AIC), RIS, New Delhi, Cmde(Retd.) Sujeet Samaddar, visiting fellow, RIS, New Delhi.

The programme got initiated with the introductory note of Professor Pradipto Roy, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Scottish Church College, who on behalf of ISCS welcomed the esteemed chair of the session and the distinguished speakers. In his brief deliberation, Professor Roy mentioned about the century old civilization linkages between India and Indonesia which had been nurtured through maritime trade, cultural exchanges, and various interactions. He further added that this bilateral relation between  both the nations at present has now matured into a comprehensive strategic partnership covering a wide range of areas including defence, economic collaboration, maritime security, and cultural diplomacy. He concluded by stating that given Indonesia’s vital position in the Indo-Pacific region, President Prabowo’s visit has further solidified both the nations’ collective vision for regional stability, economic advancement, and strategic collaboration. He thereafter requested Dr. Gautam Jha to conduct the webinar.

Dr. Gautam Jha in his deliberation on the recent visit of the Indonesian President to India said that President Prabowo’s participation as a chief guest at the Republic Day celebration was more than just a ceremonial honour terming it as a testament to the deep rooted strategic, economic and cultural ties between these two great nations. In his speech, the speaker mentioned about the participation of 352 Indonesian armed force personnel in the Republic Day parade symbolizing the strength of both India and Indonesia’s defence and security partnership.

He stated that the current visit of the Indonesian President to India was a significant achievement which spread across multiple domains including political dialogue, defence and security, maritime cooperation, economic collaboration, digital transition, health, energy and cultural ties etc.  He mentioned about the series of MOUs and agreements which were signed between both the nations which would ensure that the bilateral relationship would  continue to expand in a structured and meaningful manner. At the end of his speech he mentioned how the webinar through meaningful discussion of the distinguished speakers aimed  to explore the implications of the recently signed bilateral agreement,identifying  new opportunities and strengthen the strategic visions for the next chapter of India-Indonesia relations. At the end of his disquisition he requested the key note speaker of the session H.E. Shri Sandeep Chakravorty to present his deliberation.

 

H.E. Shri Sandeep Chakravorty initiated his discussion by highlighting the symbolic significance of President Prabowo’s visit to New Delhi. He also highlighted the eagerness of the Indonesian president’s visit to India by mentioning that he had arrived in India one day before the schedule visit.

In his speech he spoke about the strategic partnership between both the nations. He mentioned how both nations elevated their strategic cooperation by signing the comprehensive strategic partnership during Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Indonesia during 2018. He thereafter highlighted the robust diplomatic relationship between both the countries by stating the the high level diplomatic visits which took place during the post covid period that included Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Bali in 2022, Jakarta in 2023, attending the ASEAN summit and Indonesian President’s visit to New Delhi in 2023.

He mentioned about the commonality between the Indian and Indonesian foreign policy and hoped that both the countries could work together in the international arena. He also mentioned about the possibility of cooperation between both New Delhi and Jakarta in building their domestic defence sector to shed their dependence on foreign nations for defence equipments. He also spoke how there would be more cooperation between both the countries in the field of health and pharmaceuticals. He also mentioned in his speech how President Prabowo was keen to draw investment from Indian private sector enterprises by meeting the leading Indian industrialists. In his deliberation the distinguished speaker also mentioned how Indonesia was keen to learn from India about the current social welfare schemes running in the country. He concluded his speech by saying that the robust bilateral relations between both the nations could be sustained if their representatives interact more frequently.

This meaningful deliberation was followed by the presentation of Commodore Sujeet Samaddar who focused his discussion on the strategic and defence cooperation between the two nations. He initiated his deliberation by mentioning the strategic significance of Indonesia. In the due course of his speech he mentioned about the history of defence cooperation between India and Indonesia that started long back in 1958. He mentioned about the International maritime agreement between the two nations in the year 1977, the bilateral defence agreement in 2021 and the coordinated maritime patrol that started since 2002. He thereafter mentioned how Indian Navy and Indian coast guard were the first responders to the Tsunami hit Indonesia in 2024. He said the navies, air force and armed forces of both the nations were engaged in exercises in form of Samudra Shakti, Garura Shakti and Tarang Shakti.

He also mentioned about the defence minister level dialogue between the two nations that last took place in 2022. He also  spoke about the scope of sharing expertise in the field of defence technology. He also highlighted the significance of the initiatives like the India-Indonesia Joint Defence Cooperation Committee which aims to deepen cooperation in defence, industry, maritime security, and multilateral efforts, the ever “India-Indonesia Defence Industry Exhibition-cum-Seminar” organized in Jakarta on 30th April 2024 by Embassy of India, Ministry of Defense, Government of India and Ministry of Defence, Republic of Indonesia. In his deliberation he also mentioned about how both the nations were working in ensuring safety of navigation in the Indian ocean region and how both could collaborate with each other in hydrographic survey. In the course of his discussion he mentioned about India-Indonesia collaboration  in building and designing unmanned arial vehicle, sea plane and water drones.

He mentioned about the several maritime agreements that were signed between the two countries which included the joint statement on Maritime Cooperation, 2016, shared vision on India-Indonesia maritime cooperation, 2018. The distinguished speaker in his speech mentioned how both the countries could work together in tackling anthropogenic problems like pollution, biodiversity loss and building maritime protected areas, identifying environmental protecting area, green shipping lines, managing fishing resources.

He concluded his speech by stating the importance of chalking out a effective framework by both the nations for building an effective bilateral relation between the two nations.

The last speaker of the session, Mr. Pankaj Vashist in his deliberation focused on the economic aspect of the India-Indonesia relations. He initiated his presentation by mentioning the historical diplomatic relation between the two nations. He said that the bilateral economic relation between the two nations had developed significantlyin the last seventy five years. He added that since the enactment of India’s Act east policy several bilateral mechanismshad  been placed to strengthen the bilateral relations which included the regular meetings of ministers of trade of both the nations, CEO forum. He mentioned about more than three dozens of Indian big firms operating in Indonesia and the rising Indonesian investment in India. With the help of statistics he showed how bilateral trade between India and Indonesia had increased from 3 billion dollars in 2010 to 40 billion dollars at present. Besides this, he also spoke about the rising diversity in the bilateral trade between the two nations. However the speaker said that both the countries had still not reached their true bilateral trade potential and the main reason behind it remained the tariff and non-tariff barriers. In his speech he mentioned the achievement made by both the nations regarding trade facilitation and digital connectivity in terms of paperless trade. He said that both the countries would work together in ensuring an effective digital economy. He also mentioned about cooperation in the digital payment, fintech and critical mineral sector. He concluded his discussion by mentioning how increased mutual cooperation would ensure benefit for both the nations in future.

Following the deliberations of the speakers, the chair of the webinar opened the session for the participants where several comments and questions were asked to the speakers regarding the prospect of the India-Indonesia relations which were adequately replied.

The programme ended with the vote of thanks given by Ms. Kankana Roy on behalf of Institute of Social and Cultural Studies where she thanked the eminent speakers for their  meaningful deliberations. He also thanked the august audience both from India and Indonesia for their participation in the seminar.