Indonesia’s concentrated export markets and exposure to global economic disruptions highlight the need to diversify trade partnerships. South Africa presents an opportunity to expand Indonesia’s non-oil-and-gas exports and strengthen economic engagement with Southern Africa. This policy brief recommends a dual-track strategy that uses South Africa as a political anchor while engaging the So…
Indonesia’s regional diplomacy remains underutilized due to ad hoc provincial partnerships, uneven local government capacity, fragmented reporting, and limited alignment with national economic diplomacy priorities. Despite an established legal framework for coordinating foreign affairs, many sister-city and sister-province agreements have yet to produce tangible outcomes. This policy brief re…
Indonesia’s plan to elevate its Strategic Partnership with France to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) presents an opportunity to strengthen bilateral cooperation amid growing geopolitical uncertainty. Although both countries share converging strategic interests and complementary capabilities, existing cooperation has yet to deliver balanced outcomes in trade, technology, and defenc…
Indonesia’s increasingly complex diplomatic environment requires the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Kemlu) to institutionalize its Strategic Diplomatic Capital, including the knowledge, experience, and networks of senior diplomats. However, reliance on individual expertise risks the loss of institutional knowledge due to retirement, reassignment, and organizational rotation. This policy brief r…
Indonesia’s growing defense cooperation with the United States offers significant benefits for defense modernization, maritime security, and military interoperability, but the cumulative effects of bilateral arrangements may constrain national sovereignty and strategic autonomy. This policy brief recommends a Conditional Strategic Partnership that deepens mutually beneficial cooperation while…
The conclusion of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction in 2030 presents Indonesia with an opportunity to shape the Post-2030 Framework and strengthen its role in multilateral diplomacy. Building on its disaster management experience and the Sustainable Resilience concept, Indonesia can promote the integration of disaster risk reduction, climate adaptation, and sustainable developmen…
Indonesia has significant blue carbon resources and an emerging carbon-governance framework but has yet to establish coordinated regional leadership through the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security (CTI-CFF). Uneven regulatory frameworks, monitoring systems, safeguards, and project-development capacities among member countries limit regional cooperation and acce…
This paper examines how Indonesia can sustain its investment in Myanmar. In her 2019 speech on Indonesia’s foreign policy priorities, the Minister for Foreign Affairs emphasized that Indonesian companies, including state-owned enterprises, should develop outbound investment strategies in synergy with the national interest and that Indonesian investment abroad must be protected. Indonesia–My…
Public support plays an important role in foreign diplomacy by strengthening national image and promoting Indonesia’s achievements internationally. Through linguistic, cultural, and global competencies, Indonesian citizens can act as citizen diplomats and foster positive perceptions of Indonesia. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs can support this role by managing public internship programs that…
This paper explores options for empowering Indonesian diplomats through economic analysis training as a strategy to strengthen Indonesia’s diplomatic infrastructure. Economic diplomacy is one of Indonesia’s “4+1 Priorities” in foreign policy and requires support from all stakeholders, particularly diplomats as the main drivers of Indonesia’s economic diplomacy abroad. The complexity o…