Jakarta. Indonesia and the Eurasian bloc EAEU will sign their trade agreement later this week, a document that a Russian diplomat revealed would bring virtually all tariffs down to zero.

The EAEU stands for the Eurasian Economic Union, which brings together Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, and Armenia. Jakarta has been negotiating a trade pact with the EAEU since 2023 as the Southeast Asian economy wants to tap into non-traditional markets.

Russian Ambassador to Indonesia Sergei Tolchenov said Friday that the “long-awaited treaty” would be up for signing in St. Petersburg this weekend. Trade Minister Budi Santoso is expected to represent Jakarta, while the Kremlin will send Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk. 

“I have heard from different sources that between 80% and 90% of the goods in both sides — Indonesia and the EAEU — will have zero tariffs. So we expect it would increase our bilateral turnover. … We are looking to import more from Indonesia,” Tolchenov told a press briefing. 

The envoy remained tight-lipped on which commodities would be covered by the tariff exemptions. Indonesia is not the first ASEAN economy to have a trade pact with the EAEU, according to Tolchenov, as Vietnam already has a similar deal that came into effect in 2016. As Russia counts down to the signing, Tolchenov compared the advancements in the trade talks to US President Donald Trump’s protectionist tariff salvo.

“It’s not like the [Donald] Trump administration. We are not applying additional tariffs against Indonesian goods. … We are still interested in Indonesian agricultural products, be it coffee, cacao, and of course, palm oil,” Tolchenov said. 

Minister Budi recently told a business forum that Indonesia considered the EAEU as a “vast market” comprising 179.8 million people. Indonesia-EAEU trade totaled $4.5 billion in 2024. He went on to say that Indonesia sought a “non-discriminative and fair international trade”. The minister was also upbeat that the EAEU accord could double the bilateral trade figures.

The bilateral trade totaled $4 billion between January and October, with Indonesia's imports from Russia valued at nearly $2.5 billion, comprising mostly mineral fuels and fertilizers. 

Palm oil indeed is Jakarta's biggest Russia-bound export. Trade Ministry data revealed that Indonesia had supplied $813 million worth of items under the animal or vegetable fats and oils sub-category to Russia over the same ten-month period. Palm oil falls within this category.

This free trade agreement caught Russian President Vladimir Putin’s attention when he hosted his Indonesian counterpart Prabowo Subianto at the Kremlin earlier this month. Putin also pointed out the “slightly declining” Russian supply of wheat to the Indonesian market, signaling Moscow’s wish for more shipments. 

However, Indonesian government data showed that the drop in cereal imports was more severe than what Putin had mentioned. Indonesia reported that its imports of Russian cereals had plummeted to $44.4 million in January-October 2025, down from $321 million the same period last year.

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