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Amy Sood

The Middle East could prove a ripe ground for Indonesia to diversify from traditional partners such as China and the United States, according to analysts who have pointed to Jakarta’s non-aligned approach to foreign policy.
Last week, Indonesian Foreign Minister Sugiono met Qatar Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani during an official visit to Doha, where both sides agreed to enhance bilateral cooperation.
Qatar also signed a Memorandum of Understanding to finance a major housing project in Indonesia, supporting President Prabowo Subianto’s pledge to triple the country’s housing target to 3 million units this year.
In February, Hashim Djojohadikusumo, Prabowo’s brother and head of the new Housing Task Force overseeing the programme, revealed that Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund had contemplated a similar commitment.
This followed Abu Dhabi’s January announcement of a planned investment of around US$2 billion into Indonesia’s state-owned companies, aimed at developing sectors such as toll roads and solar energy.
There are many opportunities for Indonesia to partner with Middle Eastern countries, [many of which] have a lot of money to invest
Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat, political analyst
These investments aligned with Indonesia’s pattern of cooperation with the Middle East, which had largely revolved around trade and infrastructure development, said Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat from the Centre of Economic and Law Studies (Celios) think tank in Jakarta.
“There are many opportunities for Indonesia to partner with Middle Eastern countries, [many of which] have a lot of money to invest, particularly through their big sovereign wealth funds,” said Zulfikar, director of the Indonesia-Middle East and North Africa desk at Celios.
According to the International Monetary Fund, the total gross domestic product of the Arab Gulf states – collectively known as the Gulf Cooperation Council – was about US$2.1 trillion in 2023.
Foreign Minister Sugiono also discussed defence and security cooperation with his counterpart in Qatar. In recent years, Indonesia had increased its defence exports to Qatar and, notably, had been in talks with the Gulf state to buy US$790 million worth of used Mirage 2000-5 fighter jets.

The engagement with Qatar also comes after Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a state visit to Indonesia in February, where he met Prabowo and signed agreements to boost trade and defence ties, including a joint venture to build drones in a push to upgrade Indonesia’s ageing military equipment.
Prabowo, who was Indonesia’s former defence minister, also secured a deal with Ankara last March for 10 Turkish-made tanks, jointly developed by Indonesia’s state-owned defence equipment manufacturer Pindad and Turkish military vehicles specialist FNSS.
But analysts said Indonesia’s relations with countries in the Middle East went beyond economic and defence collaboration.
“There are strong cultural and people-to-people ties, in the fact that Indonesia is a Muslim-majority [country] and the Middle East is a Muslim-majority region,” said Pieter Pandie, a researcher with the international relations department at CSIS Indonesia. “I think both sides are trying to cultivate these cultural ties and build them into something stronger.”
Indonesia aligned with many Middle Eastern nations and Turkey on the Gaza conflict and supported the Palestinian cause, Pieter added.
Room for growth
Despite the robust cultural ties, analysts said there was still a lot of room for growth. While there have been more trade deals in recent years, government data showed that Middle Eastern countries were not among Indonesia’s top 30 sources of foreign direct investment in the first quarter of 2024.
“Although trade agreements have been signed between Indonesia and a few countries, trade still isn’t optimum … it is mostly concentrated on a few commodities but not expanded as of yet,” Pieter said.
Zulfikar from Celios noted that enhancing bilateral ties with Gulf states could offer Indonesia “a pathway to reduce its dependence on more traditional partners like China and the US”, especially given the escalating rivalry between the two powers.


Since taking office four months ago, Prabowo has adopted a hands-on approach to Indonesia’s foreign policy and stressed his desire to preserve the country’s long-standing, non-aligned approach.
Indonesia established a non-aligned foreign policy in the late 1940s to maintain independence from superpower blocs during the Cold War. This approach enabled Jakarta to play a pivotal role in founding the Non-Aligned Movement in 1961, which enabled the country to consistently avoid alignment with major powers while engaging in international diplomacy.
Although Prabowo visited Abu Dhabi during his first international tour as president, more visits were necessary to forge strategic alliances to show that the Middle East “is a priority for Indonesia”, Zulfikar said.
Indonesia, along with its partners in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), has signalled an interest in expanding trade alliances with Arab states.
In February, Malaysia announced it had invited representatives from China and the Arab Gulf states to the next Asean summit in Kuala Lumpur in May, in a move analysts said could be a counterweight to Donald Trump’s return to the White House and his aggressive tariff policies.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim insisted the summit “is not about choosing sides”, but an effort by the bloc to expand beyond its traditional partners.
“It is about ensuring Asean’s strategic relevance in a multipolar world,” he said during a keynote speech at the South China Morning Post’s “China Conference: Southeast Asia 2025”.


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With a focus on trade, infrastructure and defence, Indonesia aims to leverage the region’s substantial wealth and cultural ties


With a focus on trade, infrastructure and defence, Indonesia aims to leverage the region’s substantial wealth and cultural ties.


Indonesia eyes strategic Middle East pivot to diversify from China and US

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}With a focus on trade, infrastructure and defence, Indonesia aims to leverage the region’s substantial wealth and cultural ties

With a focus on trade, infrastructure and defence, Indonesia aims to leverage the region’s substantial wealth and cultural ties