Singapore’s Top Envoy, Indonesia’s Finmin Meet Amid Financial Intelligence Plan
Jakarta. Finance Minister Suahasil Nazara became the latest Indonesian cabinet member whom Singapore’s top diplomat Vivian Balakrishnan met during his Jakarta tour as the city-state seeks to address the haze that has blanketed its skies.
Suahasil announced the talks on the ministerial Instagram account @menkeuri, but left out the details.
“Minister Suahasil received a visit from Singapore Foreign Minister Balakrishnan at the Finance Ministry’s office this morning,” the post reads.
Just recently, both governments agreed to form a joint task force to curb the transboundary haze that has been coming from Indonesian forest fires. This team will have the two countries share financial intelligence and cross-border evidence gathering in an effort to hold the companies accountable for the blaze.
Indonesia views this strategy as a way “to follow the money trail” that the said firms had left behind. In Singapore, the government recently summoned the top executives from 10 locally registered haze-linked companies.
Investment Minister Rosan Roeslani, who also helms the sovereign fund Danantara, also confirmed to have met Balakrishnan. To the press, Rosan said that “commitments for investments and other things would remain open” with the neighbor.
The haze problem — which Balakrishnan admitted to having gone “far too long” — had eventually led to disagreements in other areas, including energy security.
Indonesia has reduced its Singapore-bound natural gas exports by 31 billion British thermal units per day (BBTUD) to secure domestic supplies. Despite early fears of contract breaches, Balakrishnan said that both sides shared a commitment to honor the deals. The spat also expanded into issues of internet sea cable cuts and even Umrah-related transit flights.
Indonesia-Singapore trade amounted to $22.9 billion this year as of August. Singapore is also Indonesia’s largest source of foreign direct investment (FDI), which totaled $14 billion in the 9 months of 2026, government data showed.
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