Jakarta.  President Prabowo Subianto is planning to make his first-ever state visit to Russia in June with the signing of the Eurasian bloc trade deal high on the agenda, according to senior minister Airlangga Hartarto.

Indonesia is trying to strike a free trade agreement with Russia's Eurasian bloc. The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) encompasses Russia and four post-Soviet states: Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia, and Kyrgyzstan. Airlangga revealed Tuesday that they would be able to wrap up the talks at a joint committee meeting between Indonesia and Russia next month.

"We are done [negotiating] 14 out of 15 chapters [on this free trade agreement]. Mr. President [Prabowo] will head to Russia in June and hopefully, he can sign the principal agreement during the visit," Airlangga told reporters.

Airlangga did not give additional information on Prabowo's upcoming overseas trip, nor which chapter of the pact remained outstanding. However, the last time Prabowo flew to Moscow was in late July, or about two months before his inauguration. Prabowo was still Former President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's defense minister at the time. Even so, he introduced himself to Russian leader Vladimir Putin as Indonesia's president-elect. Prabowo also briefed Putin on his expectations for Indonesia-Russia's diplomatic ties over the coming years. Putin at the time told his eventual Indonesian counterpart that the Eurasian free trade agreement could play a "positive and substantial role" in strengthening the trade ties.

Official statistics showed that Indonesia's trade with Russia had risen from $3.3 billion in 2024 to almost $3.6 billion the following year. Trade is picking up speed in early 2025. Bilateral trade reached $403.6 million in January alone, a huge jump from $224.8 million in the first month of 2024. Even so, Indonesia is importing more Russian goods than it exports to Moscow as the Southeast Asian country posted a $925.6 million deficit. The government reported that Indonesia-EAEU trade had hit $3.8 billion in 2023 with Jakarta facing a $1.6 billion imbalance. Indonesia's leading exports to the EAEU include palm oil and copra, while it mainly imports coal, fertilizer, and wheat from the Eurasian grouping. The negotiations for the Indonesia-EAEU trade deal began in December 2022.

Under Prabowo, Jakarta is growing closer with Moscow, especially following its recent entry into the China and Russia-led BRICS grouping. Prabowo is expected to make his BRICS debut at the bloc's summit in Rio de Janeiro this July. Putin wants to make BRICS a counterweight to Western influence. This group has Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa as its early members. It later accepted Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, and Indonesia.

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