Jakarta. Indonesia and Singapore discussed a possible bilateral cooperation on food security when the newly installed President Prabowo Subianto hosted his first-ever foreign leader guest: Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on Wednesday.

Food security was high up in the agenda during Prabowo-Wong’s bilateral talks at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta. According to Prabowo, the two leaders talked about the possibility of having a technology transfer deal that could help Indonesia make sure that its population had reliable access to nutritious food.

“We have discussed the possibility of [establishing] a cooperation on technology transfer and expertise exchange on food security, particularly in the fields of urban farming and food estate development,” Prabowo told a joint presser shortly after the meeting.

Prabowo said Indonesia wanted to see greater investment inflows from Singapore, even citing food security as a priority sector that Singaporean investors should consider. The ex-defense minister also revealed that both countries agreed to close the deal on food safety and agricultural technology soon. 

Singapore appears to be open to the idea of having the tech transfer for food security.

“We are discussing how through the exchange of best practices and sharing of technology, we can mutually benefit from the cooperation in the agriculture and food sectors,” Wong told reporters.

Singapore has been Indonesia’s largest foreign investor over the past years. On multiple occasions, the government had stated that some of these had actually come from Indonesian businessmen who put their money in Singapore, which had gained global recognition as a financial center. The government data showed Singapore invested approximately $14.4 billion in January-September 2024. These Singaporean investments went to 17,956 projects, government data showed. The data, however, did not reveal the details on which sectors were most popular among Singaporean investors.

Under the Prabowo government, Indonesia wants to be self-sufficient in food within five years. In his inaugural address as president, Prabowo even said that Indonesia is “ready to become the global food barn”, alluding that the archipelagic country would be able to help supply food to other economies. 

Despite talks of food security, Prabowo did not mention his signature nutritious meal program, at least at the joint press statement. Prabowo wants to start distributing free lunches for school-age children across the archipelago in January as a means to bring down the national stunting rate. Preparing this mammoth task has also become a top priority for Prabowo’s Merah Putih (‘Red and White’) ministerial cabinet. 

The bilateral talks also took place just a few days after Prabowo’s visit to the food estate project in Merauke, South Papua. Prabowo at the time inspected an agricultural demonstration plot that could teach local farmers how to boost their productivity.

Indonesia reported that its trade with Singapore had amounted to $22.2 billion in January-August 2024. Indonesia, however, suffered a $7 billion deficit with Singapore, a huge jump from the $2.9 billion negative trade balance recorded in the same period the previous year. The overall bilateral trade totaled almost $19.8 billion in the same eight-month period of 2023, government data showed.

Wong was among the state leaders that attended Prabowo’s presidential inauguration last month. Wong also only officially assumed the Singaporean premiership in May, replacing Lee Hsien Loong who led the island country for 2 decades.