Indonesia, Thailand to Enhance Various Cooperation to Advance ASEAN Region

Indonesia and Thailand as two main pillars of ASEAN should strengthen their bilateral relations to promote peace, stability, development in the region, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand Anutin Charnvirakul said.

“As the two main pillars of ASEAN, we must work closer to expand opportunity of bilateral relations and to further advance the region,” he said in his remarks during a bilateral meeting with President Prabowo Subianto at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, Monday (08/03).

The Prime Minister said that his visit is reciprocal gesture following President Prabowo’s state visit to Thailand last year where the two leaders agreed to enhance their strategic partnership. He said that the second Indonesia–Thailand Leaders’ Consultation provides an important opportunity to assess the progress of ongoing cooperation and speed up the implementation of both countries’ shared agenda.

“I believe the strategic partnership roadmap we will adopt after this meeting will serve as a framework that guides us to transform our vision to concrete action,” he added.

The Prime Minister also called for more regular high-level exchanges in the political and security sectors, including meetings between the leaders of both countries on the sidelines of regional and international forums. He also proposed Indonesia to host the next Joint Commission Meeting at the foreign ministers’ level to ensure concrete follow-up on the agreements reached by the two countries.

Cooperation on defense sector also becomes the main attention of Thailand as the country affirmed to support the continuation of joint military exercises, information sharing, maritime security cooperation, and the development of the defense industry. PM Anutin also offered to supply 36 Amphibious Wheeled Armored Vehicles to Indonesia’s Marine Corps and invited Indonesian representatives to the Tri-Service ASEAN Defense and Security Exhibition taking place in Thailand on November 2027.

In security sector, Prime Minister Anutin invited Indonesia to strengthen cooperation to combat transnational crime, particularly online scams, human trafficking, and drug trafficking. Since last year, Thailand has facilitated the repatriation of more than 1,000 Indonesian nationals from online scam centers along the border.

“Thailand and Indonesia must encourage a stronger regional cooperation within ASEAN to combat online scams,” he added.

On that occasion, the Prime Minister also stated that bilateral trade between Indonesia and Thailand reached US$20 billion. Hence, trade and investment of the two countries can be further expanded through the establishment of Indonesia–Thailand Joint Trade Committee.

He went on to say that Thailand’s businesspersons have a high level of confidence in Indonesia. He also cited Lion Air’s successful investment in Thailand as a positive example of strengthening two-way investment and developing value chains that connect the economy of two countries which together have a combined population of more than 350 million people.

PM Anutin also offered the enhancement of cooperation in food security, including through provision of quality rice, expansion of trade in agricultural and livestock products, and increasing Thailand’s imports of Indonesian urea fertilizer from approximately 60,000 tonnes to 100,000 tonnes annually. In addition, he encouraged both countries to speed up cooperation in the fisheries and halal sectors.

In a bid to expand cooperation on energy sector, PM Anutin proposed the reactivation of Thailand–Indonesia Energy Forum, which last convened in 2014. The forum is expected to serve as a platform for enhancing cooperation in natural gas, coal, and emerging energy sources. (BPMI of Presidential Secretariat) (RAS/LW)