Prime Minister Narendra Modi will make his first-ever visit to Indonesia soon. This will be the first visit by an Indian PM since 2013.
rime Minister Narendra Modi will make his first-ever visit to Indonesia soon. This will be the first visit by an Indian PM since 2013. Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo visited India in 2016 and in January 2018 for the India-ASEAN commemorative summit.
The Modi-Jokowi summit is an important one. They have met annually since their first meeting at the East Asia Summit in Myanmar in 2014, the year when both were elected. Both India and Indonesia have among the world’s largest Muslim populace, which are youthful, aspirational and committed to development.
Despite these similarities and rather short distance between the Andaman and Aceh in Indonesia, the relationship has not bloomed. In the 1970s both looked away from each other, which continued till the return of democracy to Indonesia in 1998. Since then relations have improved.
However, in a world challenged by protectionism, there is much more that India and Indonesia can do to show that developing countries can be responsive to their own needs and contribute to a mutually prosperous regional and global agenda. It is thus a big leap in our relationship that the visit of PM Modi will bring to the India-Indonesia relationship.
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