JAKARTA GLOBE



 

President-elect Prabowo Subianto is scheduled to visit Japan on Tuesday, shortly after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The Japanese Embassy in Indonesia revealed Prabowo’s plans in a brief press statement on Monday. However, the embassy said that the preparation for his visit was still underway, and did not go into details on the Japanese government officials that Prabowo would be meeting.

“We would like to inform you that President-elect His Excellency Mr. Prabowo Subianto is scheduled to visit Japan on April 2-3, 2024. [We are] currently making the arrangements for his upcoming meetings with the Japanese government officials,” the embassy said via text.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida recently congratulated Prabowo on his election win, while saying that Tokyo wants to encourage all sorts of bilateral partnerships with Indonesia. Prabowo currently serves as Indonesia’s defense minister and will take over from Joko “Jokowi” Widodo this October. 

Indonesia recently revised its trade pact with Japan, potentially supercharging Jakarta’s exports of its processed seafood and canned tunas.

Aside from robust economic cooperation, Indonesia and Japan are also working on the defense front. As a case in point, both countries signed a deal regarding the transfer of defense equipment and technology in 2021. 

Prabowo is currently in China and will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday evening local time. It is expected that they will talk about the future cooperation between the two countries.

This also marks Prabowo’s inaugural overseas visit since the General Election Commission (KPU) declared him as the winner. According to the Defense Ministry, Prabowo is scheduled to meet Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Defense Minister Dong Jun on Tuesday.

Prabowo’s visit to China also followed Xi’s congratulatory letter.
“I look forward to meeting you at an early date,” Xi said, while saying that China looks forward to working with Indonesia under Prabowo’s administration.