Jakarta. Sovereign wealth fund Danantara revealed Friday that an agricultural project involving an Australian powerhouse was in the pipeline, with investments totaling Rp 84 trillion or around $5 billion.

The plan — nicknamed “Johor Project” — sees the close neighbors working in concert to develop Indonesia’s agriculture industry. The fund’s boss Rosan Roeslani unveiled the Australia-backed project at the 2026 Indonesia Economic Outlook, a forum the government held to convince investors that the country was on the right track.

“The Australian [investment] is pretty significant. It deals with meat processing, fish, and so on,” Rosan told the high-profile conference.

Slides shown during Rosan’s presentation showed that Indonesia would partner with the “biggest player in Australia”. The Australian investment falls within the list of projects that Danantara is aiming to carry out this year. Danantara’s estimates show that this agricultural industry can create a twofold multiplier effect on the economy, on top of the jobs to be created. The partnership will include some sort of transfer of knowledge, something that Jakarta has been seeking in its foreign investment quest. 

The Johor Project is expected to “develop the technologies, export networks, and the best practices of the food industry”. Despite the name being of the Malaysian state, it does not automatically mean that the agricultural industry will be built there. 

Danantara has put a caustic soda manufacturing plant in its 2026 investment list, even calling the Rp 13.4 trillion ($796.8 million) project the Spanish city “Cordova”. In June 2025, Danantara and sovereign fund INA inked an MoU to explore the possibility of chipping in money to Chandra Asri Group’s chlor-alkali and ethylene dichloride plant to boost caustic soda output. The petrochemical giant is currently building such a facility in Banten’s Cilegon. 

Danantara Chief Investment Officer Pandu Sjahrir gave a concise reply to the Jakarta Globe's request for details of the Australian-backed project. He said: “Just wait because we can’t disclose anything yet.”

Rosan, too, refused to comment when asked by the Globe later that day.

It had only been a week since Danantara sealed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Australian government to augment two-way investments. Its signing took place during Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s trip to Jakarta. Under the MoU, Danantara agreed to explore investment opportunities in agribusiness, energy, and mining, among other things. 

A bilateral free trade agreement has been in effect since 2020. The pact not only eliminates virtually all tariffs but also aims to ease reciprocal investment inflows. Its rules protect investors against discriminatory treatment and ensure fair compensation if their investment is expropriated.

Indonesia amassed nearly $1.5 billion worth of Australian investment last year, some $26.5 million of which had gone to the sub-category of food crops, plantations, and livestock. The Government Communications Agency estimated Indonesian investors had put around $1.42 billion in Australia in 2024. The Trade Ministry named Australia as one of Indonesia's wheat and meat suppliers, with imports reaching $1.3 billion and $482.1 million, respectively.

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