President Prabowo’s Overseas Visit Strengthens Indonesia’s Relations with Strategic Partners
By: Aristika Utami
Since being officially inaugurated as President of the Republic of Indonesia, Prabowo Subianto has shown a strong commitment to positioning Indonesia as an important actor in the global arena. One of the strategic steps that stands out is a series of overseas visits he made in the first few months of his leadership. These visits are not only symbolic, but are a manifestation of active and measured diplomacy to strengthen Indonesia’s bilateral and multilateral relations with strategic partners in various regions of the world.
President Prabowo understands that post-pandemic global challenges, geopolitical tensions, and global economic dynamics demand proactive leadership. Therefore, he has made diplomacy one of the main pillars in implementing Indonesia’s foreign policy.
During his overseas visits, President Prabowo prioritizes an equal, mutually respectful, and results-oriented approach to cooperation. Each visit is carefully designed, targeting strategic sectors such as defense, energy, food security, education, and technology.
Marty Natalegawa, former Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs, said that his party is also observing this development. Prabowo’s diplomatic style brings a new spirit, which is balanced between ideology and national interests. This is important to maintain Indonesia’s neutrality.
One of the main highlights of Prabowo’s foreign diplomacy is the strengthening of modern and professional defense cooperation. Indonesia is trying to build a defense partnership not only in terms of purchasing the main weapons system (alutsista), but also the development of the domestic defense industry through technology transfer and joint research cooperation.
In his meetings with leaders of developed countries, Prabowo emphasized that Indonesia wants to be an equal partner in the development of defense technology. Agreements on joint production cooperation, joint military training, and exchanges of military academies are evidence of the new direction carried by his government.
In addition to defense, the food and energy sectors are important agendas in President Prabowo’s foreign visits. He emphasized that food and energy security are two main foundations in maintaining national sovereignty in the era of globalization. During his visits to Brazil and Argentina, for example, Prabowo explored opportunities for cooperation in terms of importing corn, wheat, and soybeans as well as developing modern technology-based agriculture.
Meanwhile, in the Middle East region such as the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, President Prabowo opened up investment opportunities in the fields of renewable energy, oil processing, and the development of strategic green projects based on sustainable economics. This is in line with Indonesia’s vision to accelerate the energy transition and strengthen its position as a leader in the region in environmental issues and sustainable development.
Through these strategic visits, President Prabowo emphasized Indonesia’s position as a middle power that has a major role in maintaining regional and global stability. In ASEAN meetings, the G20, and other multilateral forums, he often emphasized the importance of international cooperation based on the principles of non-alignment, independence, and global justice.
Deputy for Protocol, Press, and Media, Presidential Secretariat, Yusuf Permana said that the visit of the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Prabowo Subianto to the Arab Republic of Egypt resulted in important achievements in bilateral relations between the two countries, this is an important milestone that confirms the seriousness of the two countries in strengthening cooperation in various fields. Strengthening in priority areas ranging from politics, economics, defense, security, cultural and educational relations, to relations between people.
Prabowo’s diplomacy also emphasizes the importance of maintaining world peace. Indonesia, under his leadership, continues to encourage conflict resolution through peaceful means, dialogue, and diplomacy. He is also active in proposing new initiatives, including the establishment of the Asia-Africa strategic dialogue forum to strengthen solidarity between developing countries.
One thing that cannot be separated from President Prabowo’s overseas visits is national economic interests. Every diplomatic meeting is always directed at opening up investment opportunities, expanding Indonesia’s export market, and encouraging the entry of technology that can strengthen domestic industry.
In meetings with global investors, Prabowo consistently presents Indonesia as a country with strong political stability, competitive human resources, and a commitment to bureaucratic reform and ease of doing business. It is not surprising that a number of MoUs worth billions of dollars have been signed in the manufacturing, infrastructure, agriculture, and digital sectors.
Global political observer from the GREAT Institute, Teguh Santosa said that independence in establishinginternational relations are the main requirement for Indonesia to continue to implement an active free policy, as mandated by the nation’s founders. Teguh also hopes that this series of visits can be a solution to the economic and investment obstacles that have arisen due to the United States’ foreign policy under President Donald Trump.
President Prabowo Subianto’s foreign visits cannot be viewed as ceremonial routines, but rather part of a grand strategy to strengthen Indonesia’s position on the world stage. With an active, realistic, and national interest-oriented diplomatic approach, Prabowo demonstrates firm leadership but is open to collaboration.
In this era of uncertainty, Prabowo’s steps to build a broad strategic cooperation network are an important foundation for realizing the vision of Indonesia Emas 2045 — an advanced, independent, and sovereign country in the midst of a changing world.
)* Public Policy Observer
