Jakarta. President-elect Prabowo Subianto announced Tuesday that he had gotten Emirati highest civil decoration when he recently met with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) leader Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi.

According to Prabowo, the Emirati president --also known by his initials MBZ-- had given him the “Order of Zayed” in recognition of his efforts to strengthen Indonesia’s ties with the UAE. This award is the highest civil decoration in the UAE. World leaders including China’s Xi Jinping, India’s Narendra Modi, and Russia’s Vladimir Putin have received the Order of Zayed.

“On this occasion, I was honored with the 'Zayed Medal’, which recognizes the good bilateral relations between Indonesia and the UAE,” Prabowo revealed on his official Instagram account. 

Prabowo was visiting Abu Dhabi following an invitation by MBZ himself. 

Prabowo today still serves as Indonesia’s defense minister. According to a ministerial press statement, Prabowo told MBZ that he wanted to see bilateral relations flourish across all sectors, including on defense. The press release, however, did not go into details on what sort of defense cooperation that Indonesia was seeking to have with the UAE.

Indonesia has enjoyed close ties with the UAE under the outgoing President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s leadership. Last year, the Indonesia-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) entered into force, thus opening the doors to greater trade volume.

Past interactions between Jokowi and MBZ have shown that they are close. MBZ has renamed a street in Abu Dhabi after Jokowi. Not to mention the Joko Widodo mosque in the UAE capital. Jokowi’s hometown Surakarta is also home to the $20 million Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. This mosque is a gift from the UAE to the Indonesian leader. Indonesia has also renamed the Jakarta-Cikampek elevated toll road after MBZ.

Vice President-Elect Gibran Rakabuming Raka came with Prabowo on this Abu Dhabi trip. During the visit, Prabowo also introduced Gibran as Indonesia’s next vice president to MBZ. Gibran is Jokowi’s eldest son.