Jakarta. President Prabowo Subianto is set to welcome his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier for a state visit on Monday, although not much is known about what sort of deals this meeting will roll out.

Steinmeier had previously traveled to Indonesia in 2022 when former leader Joko “Jokowi” Widodo was in power. Both economies had agreed to step up high-tech industry investments. Prabowo was Jokowi’s defense minister at the time. 

"Germany is a strong and reliable partner for Indonesia,” German Ambassador Ralf Beste told a pre-state visit briefing in Jakarta on Friday, speaking in Bahasa Indonesia.

“We are the world’s third-largest economy. We possess a reliable legal system. We invest in infrastructure, clean energy, digitalization, and defense,” he said before switching back to English.

Asked about potential deals signed, Beste only replied that discussions were underway, but stayed tight-lipped on the details. He gave a similar response to a question on whether they would shake hands on further arms exports, as the Prabowo administration puts the pedal to the metal on military modernization. 

“We don’t want to comment on particular projects. There are ongoing discussions about the cooperation that we are already having,” Beste said.

Military equipment contracts mainly take place business-to-business, according to Beste. 

However, the envoy described that defense industry ties had taken off, as seen in the delivery of the two A400M units “co-produced in Germany”. The A400M is the four-engine military transport aircraft by the European aerospace giant Airbus. 

The Indonesian Navy has added the KRI Canopus-936 -- its first submarine rescue vessel -- to its fleet. German shipyard Abeking & Rasmussen (A&R) and its Batam-based counterpart Palindo Marine had teamed up to build the ship.

Indonesia will soon have a hard-fought trade deal with the European Union, which will bring virtually all tariff lines down to 0%. Beste renewed Berlin's commitment to having this pact in effect by early next year. Official statistics showed annual bilateral trade would fall within the range of $6 billion to $7 billion in recent years. From January to April 2026, trade neared $1.7 billion.

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