Jakarta. President Prabowo Subianto will make his first-ever state visit to Pakistan on Monday for high-level talks aimed at widening trade and defense ties.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has invited Prabowo to go to Islamabad, the country’s foreign ministry announced over the weekend. The last Indonesian leader to travel to Pakistan was Prabowo’s predecessor, Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, back in 2018. 

During the official visit on Dec. 8-9, Prabowo will not only engage in discussions with Sharif, but also with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, and Chief of Army Staff and Defense Forces Syed Asim Munir.

“The two sides will discuss a wide-ranging agenda aimed at further strengthening Pakistan-Indonesia relations and exploring new avenues of cooperation, including trade, investment, defense, health, information technologies, climate, education, and culture …,” the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said.

Both governments are expected to discuss ways to collaborate more effectively at the regional and global levels.

The meeting will see the signing of some memoranda of understanding (MoUs), although Islamabad did not say what these new documents would be about.

Indonesia-Pakistan trade reached $3.3 billion from January to October 2025, with Jakarta’s exports mainly driving the business activities. The Trade Ministry revealed that Indonesia’s Pakistan-bound exports totaled $3.2 billion over the said ten-month period. A tariff-easing bilateral preferential trade agreement has been in place for more than a decade. A huge chunk of Indonesian palm oil exports goes to Pakistan.

In the past, Islamabad had offered Jakarta the opportunity to co-produce the JF-17 multirole jets. This is a 4.5-generation fighter jet jointly developed by Pakistan and China. Azerbaijan is a major export customer of this lightweight aircraft. When Jokowi came to Islamabad in 2018, he even took a close look at the JF-17’s cockpit. It is unclear whether both governments will revive the JF-17 talks in the upcoming discussions, although Prabowo -- a retired army general -- has been keen on upgrading Indonesia’s airpower.

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