Jakarta. Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka is about to make his global forum debut at G20 Johannesburg Summit this weekend.

The 38-year-old politician is now en route to Johannesburg. President Prabowo Subianto has decided to stay home despite promising his South African counterpart  Cyril Ramaphosa that he would come to the talks. Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya revealed Friday that Prabowo had to skip the high-profile gathering due to some domestic affairs.

“The G20 Summit coincides with a number of the president’s domestic agenda. That’s why Mr. Vice President [Gibran] will represent him at the G20 Summit,” Teddy told reporters, without going into details on what Prabowo would be doing at home. 

According to the Foreign Ministry, Gibran will take part in “all G20-related meetings”. He will also deliver a special address at the 2025 Indonesia-Africa CEO Forum in an attempt to push for greater economic ties. Gibran is expected to meet with leaders from MIKTA -- a separate club of middle powers comprising Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea, Turkey, and Australia -- on the sidelines.

Gibran had taken over Prabowo’s duties when the latter traveled abroad, including for a D-8 Summit in Cairo back in December. The G20 is expected to be a test for Gibran’s diplomacy, including whether he would echo Prabowo’s “good neighbor” foreign policy. Gibran is the son of Prabowo’s predecessor and former election rival Joko “Jokowi” Widodo. He is also Indonesia’s youngest vice president.

Just last week, Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsjoeddin revealed that Indonesia was looking at the possibility of arranging a bilateral meeting between Prabowo and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on the margins of the Johannesburg Summit. It is unclear whether the meeting with Macron would remain on schedule with Prabowo’s absence. 

Prabowo’s decision to give the G20 duties to his veep also came as a surprise as he almost never missed the opportunity to meet fellow world leaders. In his first year as president, Prabowo had traveled abroad 32 times to 22 countries. He had even spent about 2 weeks abroad in one of his earlier trips.

The G20 Summit has been making headlines due to US President Donald Trump’s no-show. Trump has refused to come in a boycott against South Africa, citing that the country had been persecuting its white Afrikaner minority farmers. He has also banned any US officials from attending. Ramaphosa recently claimed that his government had received a notice about a “change of mind about participating in one shape, form or other in the summit”. The White House quickly denied the U-turn in plans, saying that they would only send a diplomatic official to join the handover ceremony. The US will assume the rotating G20 presidency next year.

The Johannesburg gathering is missing some key world leaders. As usual, Chinese President Xi Jinping is dialing back on foreign visits and sends his premier Li Qiang instead. Russian leader Vladimir Putin can’t leave the country due to arrest warrants and has assigned Maxim Oreshkin, the deputy head of presidential administration, to lead Moscow’s delegation. The G20 brings together the world’s richest economies and makes up around 85 percent of the global gross domestic product (GDP).

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