Jakarta. The United Kingdom agreed to help Indonesia embrace sustainable development in a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed on Tuesday.

Minister of State for Development Anneliese Dodds become the first minister under Prime Minister Keir Starmer to visit Indonesia -- where she signed the MoU with National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) Head Suharso Monoarfa for a five-year-term bilateral cooperation centering on sustainable development.

According to Suharso, the deal should lay the foundation for the continuation of the existing partnerships while also exploring new areas of opportunity. 

“The priority sectors in the MoU include poverty alleviation, sustainable economic development, gender equality and social inclusion, clean and renewable energy, green industries, eco-friendly infrastructure, sustainable cities, among others,” Suharso said. 

Dodds said that the UK would look forward to the program’s implementation.

“This agreement underlines our determination to galvanize progress towards a world that is free from poverty on a livable planet. That means tackling the climate crisis which is destroying lives and livelihoods. It means being clear-eyed about how complex and interconnected today’s world is,” Dodds said.

Neither Suharso nor Dodds went into details on the monetary value of this newly established cooperation under the MoU.  

Sustainable development partnership has played a major role in Indonesia-UK ties. Last year, the UK announced a grant worth £27.2 million (about $35.9 million) to turbocharge Indonesia’s green growth. The UK is also one of the donors that chip in the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) -- the $20 billion climate financing package established by developed countries to help Indonesia wean off coal.  

Indonesia is aiming to have 23 percent of renewables in its energy mix by 2025. The country also seeks to reach net zero emission by 2060 or sooner.