JAKARTA (Bernama): Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto has urged Japanese investors to deepen their presence, offering "real partnerships” to accelerate industrialisation, technology transfer, and economic transformation.
Speaking at the Indonesia-Japan Business Forum in Tokyo on Monday, he said decades of bilateral economic ties should be elevated to a higher and faster level amid an increasingly interconnected global landscape.
He said Indonesia is seeking deeper collaboration with Japan in key sectors such as industrial development, renewable energy, manufacturing, and the digital economy, as part of its broader economic transformation agenda.
"Once again, we offer opportunities, but now we offer real partnership. We are looking for partners who are ready to join us to build industries, transfer technology, and grow together,” he said. A video of his remarks was later uploaded on the Presidential Secretariat’s YouTube account.
Prabowo said Indonesia is open to greater Japanese participation, particularly in technology, finance, and industrial expertise, stressing that such cooperation would be mutually beneficial.
"We believe that combined with our resources, our growth, and our scale, this relationship can be mutually beneficial to both sides. We can be complementary,” he said.
Prabowo said the government is improving the investment climate through deregulation and administrative reforms such as removing what he described as irrational rules and streamlining processes.
He said a special debottlenecking task force set up to address investment hurdles has proven effective.
"This task force has proved effective. We have resolved many problems because it goes direct,” he said.
He said Indonesia is undergoing a broad transformation aimed at boosting competitiveness and accelerating industrialisation.
Meanwhile, Prabowo said Indonesia is accelerating renewable energy and electric mobility to strengthen energy security.
Saying that the country still has around 140 million motorcycles powered by internal combustion engines, Prabowo said it is something the government wants to change fast.
"We are moving in a big way towards electric vehicles and motorcycles.
"We also want to advance our manufacturing,” he said.
He said Indonesia remains an open, trade-reliant economy guided by a non-aligned foreign policy.
"Our philosophy is 1,000 friends, too few; one enemy, too many,” he said, adding that Japan remains one of Indonesia’s most trusted economic partners.
At the business forum on Monday, Indonesia and Japan signed 10 memoranda of understanding (MoUs) and strategic cooperation agreements worth a combined US$22.6 billion.
The cooperation spans a wide range of sectors, including downstream clean energy initiatives, upstream oil and gas exploration and development, and geothermal power projects, as well as efforts to strengthen inclusive financial ecosystems and strategic investments.
"This moment serves as a strong symbol of the commitment of Indonesian and Japanese businesses to expand concrete collaboration, while also reflecting the high level of confidence in Indonesia’s economic prospects,” he said, as reported by ANTARA News Agency on Monday.
Among the key agreements are a methanol production project utilising CO₂ emissions in Bontang, East Kalimantan; the strategic development of the Abadi gas field in the Masela Block; and potential upstream oil and gas partnerships in Indonesia and Southeast Asia involving units of PT Pertamina and Japan’s INPEX. -- Bernama
