Jakarta. Indonesia is stepping up its ties with South Korea with the signing of memoranda of understanding (MoUs), be it government-to-government and business-to-business.

Their commercial deals are also worth $10.2 billion. President Prabowo Subianto told his South Korean counterpart Lee Jae Myung that Indonesia considered his country a “very close friend”.

 Prabowo also witnessed the announcement and exchange of 10 government-to-government MoUs. The agreements reached cover various priority sectors, from the economy and energy to digital technology, to health and future industries.

The cooperation includes establishing a comprehensive strategic dialogue, strengthening economic cooperation 2.0, developing critical minerals partnerships, and cooperation in artificial intelligence (AI) for basic health and human development. It also includes strengthening clean energy, carbon capture and storage (CCS), and the offshore power generation services industry.

Both countries are strengthening collaboration in the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights and financial cooperation, including a partnership between the sovereign fund Danantara and the Korea Eximbank.

This cross-sectoral cooperation also represents a concrete step in driving economic transformation towards a more inclusive, innovation-based, and sustainable direction. The bilateral synergy aims to accelerate the development of future industries, including digital technology, renewables, and strengthening the global supply chain.

This collaboration reinforces Indonesia's position as a strategic partner in the Indo-Pacific, leveraging its superior resources and domestic market, supported by South Korea's technology and industrial capacity. There were also multi-billion-dollar worth of deals in a business forum held on the margins of Prabowo’s visit.

"Our countries also signed MoUs worth $10.2 billion, or approximately Rp 173 trillion," Chief Economic Affairs Minister Airlangga Hartarto said.