Jakarta. The upcoming summit of the Russia-led economic bloc BRICS will be Foreign Minister Sugiono’s first overseas assignment, according to his deputy. 

BRICS is an intergovernmental organization that originally brought together Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. The group now has new members: Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Saudi Arabia has not formalized its membership.

Russia is holding this year’s BRICS rotating chairmanship and will host the summit in Kazan on Oct. 22-24. 

Deputy Foreign Minister Arif Havas Oegroseno revealed on Monday evening that Sugiono would fly to Kazan to represent Indonesia later this week. 

“Mr. [Sugiono] is still busy preparing for the upcoming [BRICS] conference in Kazan,” Havas told reporters in Jakarta. 

Havas did not go into details on what Indonesia would pursue at the BRICS forum, nor updates on Jakarta’s stance on joining the economic grouping.

According to media reports, the Russian Embassy in Indonesia said that President Prabowo Subianto had appointed Sugiono to join the BRICS Plus/Outreach talks. This outreach session -- which will take place on the summit’s final day -- is open to non-BRICS members. Representatives from nearly 40 countries will join the BRICS Plus talks.

The embassy also said that Prabowo would skip the summit as he had just assumed power on Sunday. This meant that Prabowo would not be meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Earlier that evening, Sugiono revealed more details about his recent ministerial appointment. The senior Gerindra Party politician did not talk about BRICS but gave an overall overview of what Prabowo expected from him. Sugiono said: “[Mr. Prabowo] wants me to establish cooperation with all countries and see if there is any potential cooperation with our neighbors.”

Last year, then-President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo attended the BRICS summit in South Africa as the 2023 ASEAN chair. His attendance sparked assumptions that Indonesia would join BRICS. The government, however, immediately shot down the rumors, saying that Indonesia chose not to rush things, and was still “making the necessary calculations” before deciding to send a letter of interest.

Prabowo has said that he would seek a “good neighbor” approach in his foreign policy. Even though Jakarta wants to be everybody’s friend, Indonesia will keep its anti-colonialism stance, according to Prabowo in his inaugural speech over the weekend.

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