Jakarta. President Prabowo Subianto recently wrapped up his first-ever state visit to Saudi Arabia with business deals totaling $27 billion.

Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) hosted Prabowo for talks at his palace in Jeddah on Wednesday local time. The Indonesian leader had an intention to deepen bilateral economic ties in mind when he jetted off to Jeddah. A joint leaders’ statement showed that Prabowo would not return to Jakarta empty-handed after Saudi and Indonesian businesses signed a string of deals that day. 

“Both sides welcomed the signing of a number of agreements and memoranda of understanding [MoUs] during this visit between private sector institutions, amounting to about $27 billion in a number of fields,” a joint statement on the high-level talks reads.

“[They include] clean energy, petrochemical industries, and aviation fuel services, which reflects the aspirations of both sides towards an advanced economic partnership.”

A separate statement by the Foreign Affairs Ministry listed the companies that had signed the business-to-business (B2B) agreements during that visit, many of whom were state-owned enterprises (SOEs). 

For instance, Indonesia’s sovereign fund Danantara had inked an investment MoU with Riyadh-based energy giant ACWA Power for a 10-gigawatt renewable energy project. The state-run oil company Pertamina and ACWA Power agreed to jointly develop projects that can generate up to 500 megawatts of clean energy. Its commercial sub-holding company Pertamina Patra Niaga will team up with Alshams for jet fuel services.

Construction firm Waskita Karya and its Saudi counterpart Pladco will work together on a construction project in the Arab nation. 

The ministry revealed that VELA and SISA had struck a deal for the development and assembly plant of the so-called Alpha aircraft.

Indonesia also announced a partnership involving the Yogyakarta-based Cyber Mantra, a company called Forytine Arch, and a Saudi tech company, ITEAC. The three are set to jointly develop a digital technology center in Saudi Arabia. 

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of his Saudi trip, Prabowo said that he had “very productive talks” with MBS. He added: “We have agreed to step up partnership across the board. I'm very satisfied [with the results].”

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