Pernyataan Pers Bersama Presiden Republik Indonesia dan Perdana Menteri Singapura di Parliament House, Singapura Senin, 16 Juni 2025

Perdana Menteri Singapura (Lawrence Wong)

Your Excellency President Prabowo Subianto:
Excellencies;
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am delighted to welcome President Prabowo to Singapore.

President Prabowo is very familiar with Singapore; he has visited us many times. But this visit is special because it is his first State Visit to Singapore. And we are coupling it with our annual Leaders’ Retreat.

The Retreat is a platform that we convene only with our two closest neighbours.

It reflects the comfort and trust that we have with each other at the highest levels, and our shared commitment to work together in the spirit of mutual respect. 

We had very good discussions this morning in our four-eye meeting and also in our delegation meeting. Both President Prabowo and I agreed that Singapore-Indonesia relations are in excellent shape and we want to take it further and chart even stronger ties in this new era of cooperation.

The Expanded Framework Agreements that we have together entered into force last year, and they serve as the foundation for our collaboration in defence, airspace management and law enforcement.

On Defence, our Ministers have signed a Joint Update on Defence Cooperation. Our armed forces continue to train together, and they are exploring new possibilities for military cooperation.

On Airspace, the Flight Information Region Agreement has been successfully implemented. Indonesian personnel are stationed in Singapore, we welcome them, and they are working smoothly with the Civil Aviation Authority Singapore to ensure safe and efficient air traffic management.

For the Extradition Treaty, the first case is now before the Singapore Courts. This would not have been possible without the close collaboration between our legal and law enforcement agencies. So, the successful implementation of the three agreements is testament to Singapore and Indonesia’s ability to work through complicated issues with respect and trust for one another.

President Prabowo and I also discussed ways to enhance our bilateral cooperation.

One promising new area is in the Green Economy. We know that climate change will have an outsized impact on small island and archipelagic states like ours. But we can turn our vulnerabilities into opportunities.

Our Energy Ministers have signed three MOUs on Cross-Border Electricity Trade, Carbon Capture and Storage, and the Sustainable Industrial Zone.

After this press conference, President Prabowo and I will witness a milestone ceremony for these renewable energy and sustainability projects.

Working together, we can create new opportunities for growth, while realising our green and sustainability goals. We can help ourselves, help each other, and help the world.

Our work on the green economy reinforces our already robust and multi-faceted economic ties. 

Our trade and investments links remain strong. Singapore has been Indonesia’s top source of foreign investment for more than a decade. Last year, Singapore accounted for over one-third of all realised foreign investment into Indonesia. This reflects the confidence we have in Indonesia’s economy and its potential and strength.

The MAS and Bank Indonesia have renewed the Bilateral Financial Arrangement. This is the first time that we have extended the Arrangement by three years. Previously it was renewed annually, this time we have renewed it for three years. And it reflects our shared commitment to preserving monetary and financial stability amidst global economic uncertainty.

We have also signed an MOU on Food Safety and Agricultural Technology. We know that food security is a key priority area for Indonesia. And Singapore will support this, including through a Young Farmers Development programme to exchange best practices on agri-tech solutions.

All in all, there are many projects which Indonesia and Singapore are undertaking together. These are possible because of the enduring friendship between our countries, and between Singaporeans and Indonesians.

Both President Prabowo and I agree on the importance of facilitating more of these people-to-people exchanges. Improvements in connectivity will enable such exchanges and we welcome the newly launched flights from Singapore to Padang and Kertajati.

Beyond this, our officials will continue to support more internship opportunities for our youths to work in one another’s countries. They will gain valuable overseas experience, and bring back friendships that last a lifetime.

President Prabowo and I also had good discussions on regional and global affairs.

As founding members of ASEAN, we will continue to work closely with our fellow ASEAN Members States, to strengthen our region and to uphold the rules-based multilateral system. 

I also conveyed Singapore’s support for Indonesia’s accession bid to the CPTPP.

We are in the midst of profound global change.

But for nearly 60 years, Indonesia and Singapore have stood shoulder to shoulder, as partners in the face of multiple challenges.

I have every confidence that we will continue to do so, especially with Pak Presiden’s strong support and leadership. 

I thank President Prabowo for the excellent, constructive discussions we had today. He has long been a valued friend of Singapore, and I look forward to working closely with him to take our bilateral ties to greater heights. 

Thank you.

Presiden Republik Indonesia (Prabowo Subianto)

Thank you, Your Excellency. 

Prime Minister Wong;
Honorable ministers;
Officials from Singapore and Indonesia;
Members of the media,
First of all, I would like to express my highest appreciation for the warm welcome, the reception given to me today. This is the first Leaders’ Retreat for both of us and I take this opportunity to once again congratulate you on your reelection, Prime Minister Wong, as Prime Minister of Singapore. 

Once again, I would like also to thank you for attending my inauguration as the President of the Republic of Indonesia. I think this marks the high value we attach to the relationship and the friendship between Singapore and Indonesia. I also thank you for coming to the airport and receiving me directly last night. Although, I’m sure you have had a lot of activities as prime minister.

I would like also to thank the President of Singapore for receiving me and my delegation. We had also a very productive meeting, a call. And, I am very touched that I have been given the honor of naming a unique orchid. I was given the honor of nominating a name and I nominated the name of my mother to give respect to her for having raised me, for having raised maybe a difficult boy in his younger days, but finally he became president of Indonesia. 

Prime Minister, I’d like to admit to you that I spent some years as a boy here. I witnessed the early days of Singapore and to be very frank, I’ve always admired the success of Singapore and especially the success of the early leaders of Singapore, the leadership statesmanship. 

I think in real life, we are allowed to copy best practices. In school, we are not allowed to copy our friends’ homework or our friends’ exams, right? But, in real life why not copy best practice, right? It’s called copy with pride. So I learned this, and I think Singapore has initiated many successful policies. 

First of all, the housing. The low cost housing for all citizens of Singapore which we are going to continue the initiatives of President SBY and President Joko Widodo. We are going full speed ahead. I am proud to say that I have got reports that we will be building one million apartments, low cost housing this year. 

Another achievement of Singapore that we copy with pride is your sovereign wealth fund, Temasek. So, a few months ago, we initiated our own sovereign wealth fund which we call Darantara. Darantara means the future energy of Indonesia. So, actually, we are doing this for the future generation of Indonesia. 

I was again honored by the special orchid naming ceremony, maybe we should copy this also. I hope there is no hak paten, copyright. Is there a copyright? But I think that is the highest form of respect, right? If you are, if you are imitated, that means you must be doing something good. But, they have this special diplomacy which they say the Singapore Orchid Diplomacy. That is something that we have to learn, right? So, I am very proud that my mother is honored in this way. 

Leaders’ Retreat this time, I think it was very productive and very successful. We had a very productive meeting, four eyes. And, we produced in this year’s retreat 19 deliverables across many sectors of cooperation. 

In politics and security, we reaffirmed our commitment to fully implement the defense cooperation agreement and finalized all the technical details for the military training areas, and I hope this will be expedited very fast. 

We also progressed on the extradition treaty mechanism. This will strengthen our law enforcement. Also, we welcome the renewal of the Memorandum of Understanding between our two attorney generals. 

On the economic front, I think we are going from strength to strength, Singapore remains perhaps our top investor. And, last year I think Singapore invested, I think the investment from Singapore comprises one-third of all foreign direct investment in Indonesia. Thank you for the confidence that you have in us and we would like to continue strengthening this collaboration and this partnership. We have received updates on all progress under the six bilateral economic working groups. We have made much progress and achievements in the development of Special Economic Zones, agriculture, tourism, manpower, transportation. 

We look forward to close collaboration between Temasek and Danantara in all sectors, especially the sector of renewable energy, sustainable industrial zone and the development of Batam, Bintan, and Karimun region on the low carbon energy sectors and critical infrastructure. 

In our efforts to ensure Indonesia’s food security, we welcome Prime Minister Wong’s offer to open opportunities for technology transfer in modern agriculture technology including urban farming and sustainable post-harvest practices. We welcome the signing of an MoU as a foundation for strategic cooperation in food safety and agricultural technology. 

In the health sector, I invited Singapore to participate more actively in our effort to transform our health sector. I plan to open more medical colleges and more nursing colleges, and this is I think an area where Singapore’s experience can benefit us. 

In the field of manpower, we welcomed the opportunity for Indonesian migrant workers to work here in a good and friendly environment. Prime Minister Wong and I agreed there is great potential to strengthen cooperation in the placement of skilled caregivers from Indonesia and Singapore. 

On connectivity, we are committed to enhance the present traffic levels to pre pandemic and perhaps to even higher levels. I have instructed the respective ministries in Indonesia to enhance the opening of all airports to direct foreign airline connections to our airports, many of which still need to be opened. Of course, we have to improve the infrastructure and the safety mechanisms. But in principle, I would like to see easier and faster access to our airports. 

We discussed regional matters and global matters. We express the concern of the situation in Gaza and the escalation in the Israel-Iran conflict. We emphasize the importance of peaceful solution, negotiation and we call for immediate ceasefire. On Myanmar, we agreed that we must concentrate also to achieve engagement and a peaceful outcome in Myanmar. 

Once again, Prime Minister [and] distinguished delegations from Singapore, I would like to express my deepest gratitude for the productive outcome of our Leaders’ Retreat. Now, the ministers and the officials will start their hard work to implement all the strategic decisions that we have achieved. I emphasized today Indonesia’s strategic political design, to foster the best cooperation and collaboration with Singapore, one of our closest neighbors and our partners for more than five decades. Both of us have succeeded in maintaining a zone of regional peace, prosperity, and mutual support. 

I’m very confident that this bilateral relationship will continue to grow from strength to strength with more trust and confidence in each other as the years will prove. 

I look forward to welcoming you and your delegation at next year’s Leaders’ Retreat in Indonesia. Thank you very much, Prime Minister. Thank you very much, distinguished guests.

Thank you.