Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s visit to France brought not only greater visibility for his country but also a chance for Jakarta to portray itself as an active player globally, according to observers.
During the three-day state visit at the invitation of French President Emmanuel Macron and which ended on Tuesday, Prabowo attended the Bastille Day Military Parade.
Jakarta sent a joint contingent of 509 personnel from the military and national police to march alongside the French Armed Forces along the Champs-Élysées on Monday. “Indonesia’s presence in the parade symbolises the deepening strategic defence cooperation between Indonesia and France,” Jakarta’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
In a speech to the French military, Macron called on his army to join hands with countries that are “like-minded”, including Indonesia. “Let’s defend this freedom alongside other great nations, our European partners, our allies, but also the nations that are far away from us like Indonesia,” he said.
Describing the trip as underscoring the growing strategic partnership between the two countries, Indonesia’s Antara news agency said that the two leaders discussed bilateral cooperation and the two-state solution for the Palestine-Israel conflict.
Prabowo’s visit comes just over a month after a state visit by Macron to Indonesia, where the two countries signed 21 strategic agreements across various sectors and adopted four joint declarations on global peace and cultural cooperation.
