Jokowi’s brief rendezvous came as the latest development in Indonesia’s ongoing efforts to intensify its engagement with Pacific Island nations, an undertaking also increasingly popular among bigger nations seeking to assert their influence in the contested region.

Accompanied by some of Jakarta’s top economic affairs officials, Jokowi also met with PNG Governor-General Bob Dadae and several entrepreneurs in the first-ever Indonesia-PNG business forum.

Since holding last year’s Group of Twenty (G20) presidency, Jakarta has been adamant about being a voice for the global south, including by inviting representatives from the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) to convey their interests to other world leaders amid a highly tense geopolitical landscape.

This mission was again reiterated this year during Jakarta’s ASEAN chairmanship, when Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said in her annual speech that “Indonesia [sought] to bring the Pacific closer to the world” through various means, including via economic cooperation, investments and a regional flagship event, the ASEAN-Indo-Pacific Forum.

“Papua New Guinea is a close neighbor of ours, a good friend and Indonesia’s strategic partner in the Pacific,” said Jokowi ahead of his flight on Monday.

Jakarta on Wednesday said that Jokowi and Marape engaged in a 35-minute-long tête-à-tête, before holding a bilateral meeting involving Coordinating Economic Affairs Minister Airlangga Hartarto, Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Pandjaitan, Investment Minister Bahlil Lahadalia and Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan.

Popular

The fragile promise of pluralism, religious freedom in Southeast Asia

Coffee, gold push up inflation to 1.95 percent in April

Furniture exporters decry new quarantine rule