Jakarta. Indonesia is looking to partner with food exporter India as newly elected President Prabowo Subianto inches closer to the starting date of his signature free school lunch plan.

Preparations are underway to help Prabowo deliver his campaign promise of feeding all Indonesian school-age children free and nutritious lunches. The nutritious meal program is part of Prabowo’s strategy to bring down the national stunting rate, and the meals will start coming to Indonesian schools starting in January.

On the sidelines of the BRICS Plus summit in Russia, Foreign Affairs Minister Sugiono engaged in talks related to the mid-day meal plan with his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar. 

“Both ministers exchanged their views and explored potential bilateral cooperation on the nutritious meal program, among other things,” the Foreign Affairs Ministry said Thursday.

Sugiono had told Jaishankar that Indonesia considered India as an “important partner” for food security. Rice is a staple food in Indonesia and has never been absent in the free meals that the government had given the kids in its pilot programs so far.  The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) data also showed that Indonesia imported 69,715 tons of Indian rice throughout last year.

“Minister [Sugiono] welcomed India’s decision to lift the import restrictions on non-basmati white rice. This decision has opened up the possibility of increased rice trade which will support Indonesia’s food security,” the ministry said. 

In September, India decided to lift the blanket ban on non-basmati white rice shipments and imposed a minimum export price (MEP) of $490 per ton. The populous country has just scrapped the MEP earlier this week. 

Aside from being Indonesia’s rice supplier, India has been running a similar mid-day meal program for decades. India’s PM-POSHAN scheme serves hot cooked meals for over 100 million school-age children in government schools across the country. 

The Indonesian government is currently running pilot programs to find out the best possible scheme to distribute the meals.Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka has even visited some schools to check the distribution since taking office over the weekend.

Gibran went to SMPN Jakarta 270 junior high school on Wednesday. The menu encompassed white rice, fried chicken, stir fried tempeh and veggies, and fruit. The government has allocated Rp 71 trillion (around $4.5 billion) in spending to run the free nutritious meal program next year. 

Indonesia reported that its trade with India had dropped from nearly $32.7 billion in 2022 to almost $27 billion the following year. Bilateral trade reached $17.7 billion in January-August 2024, still lower versus the $18.1 billion posted in the same period the previous year, government data showed.