Jakarta. Russian President Vladimir Putin is looking forward to the yet-to-be-signed trade pact between Indonesia and the Moscow-led Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).

The EAEU is an economic bloc comprising Russia, and four other post-Soviet states, namely Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. Indonesia is currently negotiating a free trade agreement (FTA) with the five-member group, and talks have already entered its fifth round.

Putin brought up this trade pact when hosted a state visit from President-Elect Prabowo Subianto at Moscow’s Grand Kremlin Palace. Putin said Indonesia-Russia trade had been on the rise despite the Covid-19 pandemic and “current developments”, alluding to the ongoing Ukraine war.

“We hope that the draft agreement on the EAEU-Indonesia free trade zone, which is ready for signing, will play a positive and substantial role in the development of our trade and economic ties,” Putin told Prabowo on Wednesday local time.

 “The EAEU market is very big. The Indonesian market, with a population of nearly 300 million, is of substantial interest to Russia as well,” he added.

According to the broadcasted version of the meeting, Prabowo did not talk about the Indonesia-EAEU FTA. However, Prabowo said he wanted to see Russia increase its participation in the Indonesian economy.

Indonesia-EAEU first kicked off the deal negotiations in Dec. 2022 with a two-year deadline, according to the Trade Ministry. Jakarta claimed that the recent fifth round of talks would be the “final full round” of the negotiations. Both sides will now focus on the remaining issues.

Indonesia reported that its trade with the EAEU reached $3.8 billion in 2023. About $2.7 billion of those numbers were Indonesian imports from the Eurasian group. Indonesia mainly imports coal, fertilizer, and wheat, among others.

Russia first launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Government data showed Indonesia-Russia trade rose from $2.7 billion in 2021 to almost $3.6 billion the following year. However, bilateral trade dropped to $3.3 billion in 2023.

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