By The South Asia Times

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan and Indonesia agreed to significantly expand cooperation across defence, trade, investment, climate resilience, health and education during the two-day official visit of Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto to Islamabad from 8–9 December 2025, the Foreign Office said in a joint statement.

President Prabowo, visiting on the invitation of Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, held delegation-level talks with the prime minister, met President Asif Ali Zardari, and was called on by Pakistan’s Chief of Defence Forces, Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir. During the visit, President Prabowo was conferred the Nishan-e-Pakistan, the country’s highest civilian award.

Marking 75 years of diplomatic relations, both sides reaffirmed their intention to take a “forward-looking” approach to cooperation. They reviewed all aspects of the relationship—political, economic, security, defence, cultural and technological—and agreed to strengthen high-level contacts and existing bilateral mechanisms.

Trade emerged as a central focus, with both countries noting that bilateral trade has surpassed US$4 billion but remains below potential. Islamabad and Jakarta agreed to fast-track negotiations to upgrade the Indonesia-Pakistan Preferential Trade Agreement (IP-PTA) into a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) by 2027, including addressing non-tariff barriers and expanding cooperation into services sectors such as IT, cybersecurity, fintech, and Islamic finance.

On defence, the two sides agreed to deepen collaboration through high-level military exchanges, defence industrial cooperation, specialized training programs, and enhanced maritime and aviation-related training. Indonesia appreciated the ongoing defence education partnership and expressed interest in exploring wider defence industry cooperation.

The statement noted plans to boost cooperation in investment, disaster management, climate resilience, halal trade, health systems, vaccine manufacturing, women and child health, and tourism. Both countries also agreed to promote student exchanges, joint research, and technical and vocational education.

On regional issues, Pakistan briefed Indonesia on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir. Both sides expressed deep concern over the humanitarian crisis in Palestine and reiterated support for a two-state solution. They also underlined the importance of multilateralism and cooperation at the UN, OIC, and D-8, which Indonesia will chair in 2026.

Eight agreements and MoUs were signed during the trip, covering scholarships, mutual recognition of higher-education degrees, SME collaboration, archives, narcotics control, health cooperation, halal certification, and library cooperation.

President Prabowo thanked the Pakistani leadership and people for their hospitality, calling the visit a reaffirmation of the “brotherly” relations between the two nations.