Indonesia and Thailand are looking to strike up a solid partnership when both nations play greater strategic roles next year, with Indonesia joining the United Nations Security Council and Thailand taking up the chairmanship of ASEAN.

Speaking after a closed-door meeting with her Thai counterpart Don Pramudwinai in Yogyakarta, Foreign Minister Retno L.P. Marsudi said the two sides were expected to communicate more intensively going forward, having announced a plan to upgrade their nations’ bilateral relationship to a strategic partnership.

More importantly, however, the minister underscored the prospect of a partnership with Bangkok that would transcend bilateral ties.

“One of Indonesia’s [foreign policy] priorities is to empower regional organizations to respond to issues in the region, including in ASEAN,” she said after the annual ministerial Joint Commission Meeting on Friday.

As the region’s two largest economies in terms of gross domestic product (GDP), Indonesia and Thailand are poised to take on greater multilateral roles both regionally and globally next year.

Indonesia recently nabbed a seat on the UN Security Council, and is set to begin its two-year term there at the beginning of 2019. Likewise, Singapore will pass on the baton of ASEAN leadership to Thailand next year.

Indonesia expects Thailand to uphold the mantra of ASEAN unity and centrality when it becomes chair of the 10-nation bloc. “It may seem trivial or easy to say, but we have to continually strive for it, including in the context of the Indo-Pacific,” the minister said.

The discussion of an Indo-Pacific strategy has been gaining ground since major powers like the United States, Japan, Australia and India used the term last year, even though the notion dates back to 2002 when it was raised during the East Asia Summit.

With the world’s largest economies, the US, China, Japan, India and Indonesia in the region, an Indo-Pacific cooperation sphere would have a combined GDP of some US$43 trillion.

Retno said Indonesia wanted ASEAN to “own” the Indo-Pacific when it develops the concept.

“Indonesia always wants ASEAN to be central to the Indo-Pacific discussion,” she said.

Senior ASEAN officials are planning to meet in Bali on July 12 to 13 to discuss the concept.

In bilateral terms, both sides seek greater opportunities for cooperation, with the minister noting that they had in previous meetings inked five new agreements in the fields of defense, trade and investment and narcotics prevention.

“Indonesia welcomes the diversification of our trade [with Thailand], particularly in [the form of] export products from Indonesian strategic industries such as aircraft and railway cars,” Retno said.

According to ministry data, two-way trade between the partners increased by 11.95 percent in 2017, amounting to $15.75 billion.

She noted that investment cooperation had also continued to grow stronger, with Thai direct investments reaching $220.2 million in 2017. The number of Indonesian companies investing in Thailand has also increased to 128 companies, and includes industry leaders like state-owned Pertamina Lubricants and Lion Air, Indonesia’s largest low-cost carrier.

The ministers also discussed strengthening cooperation on tourism based on the 2006 Borobudur Declaration, and a previous discussion between Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla in 2017 to collaborate on joint tourist destinations and supporting a “trail of civilizations” project.

Aaron Connelly of the Sydney-based Lowy Institute said Jakarta and Bangkok could work well together because both were “fundamentally status quo, nonaligned powers” who shared similar approaches on a number of issues, including on the competition between great powers, and the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar.

“On the other hand, there is a small chance that one or both governments could change with elections in 2019. In that case, you might find changes in foreign policy that reflect identity politics in each country to a greater degree, and make cooperation more difficult on issues like the Rohingya crisis or the situation in the South China Sea,” Connelly said.

Also on Friday, the ministers expressed an openness to revisit the East Asia Economic Caucus (EAEC), a subregional economic grouping first proposed by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad during his previous term in office.

“We haven’t really looked so much into it, but our friend Mahathir has always brought up very good ideas, we’re certainly looking at his ideas,” Pramudwinai said.

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