MOSCOW, Dec 10 (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin told Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto on Wednesday that Moscow was pleased with the developing military ties between the two countries and ready to help Jakarta in the field of nuclear energy.
Putin, hosting Prabowo in the Kremlin, said he also wanted to talk about what he called a slight decrease this year in the volume of Russian wheat exports to Indonesia.
It was the second time the pair have met this year in Russia, as Putin courts the leader of the world’s fourth most populous country – part of a strategy to build stronger ties with the Global South as his economy remains under Western sanctions because of the war in Ukraine.
In televised exchanges between the two leaders, Prabowo hailed the “excellent” state of relations. Referring to Putin’s visit to India last week, he invited him to come to Indonesia “at your convenience” in 2026 or 2027.
Russia is building nuclear power plants in a number of countries, and Putin told Prabowo: “If you consider it possible to engage our specialists, we are always at your disposal.”
Indonesia has said that it wants to build its first nuclear power plant by 2032, with 500 MW capacity, aiming for it to come online in the next decade.
In agriculture, Putin said, Indonesia has a slight trade surplus with Russia.
“We have no complaints; we are ready to seek ways to further develop relations in this sector,” he said. “I believe the supply of wheat to your market has decreased slightly. This will also be a subject of our discussion today.”
Russia, the world’s top wheat exporter, resumed shipments to Indonesia in October after a pause since January due to negotiations between the two countries over access for Russian grains.
Russia’s agricultural safety watchdog said Indonesia’s Quarantine Agency agreed in August to extend safety certificates for Russian grains, paving the way for the supply of 52,000 metric tons of wheat in October.
Russia’s agriculture export agency, Agroexport, estimated grain supplies to Indonesia, mostly wheat, at 1.3 million tons in 2024. It said that before the new agreement, Russia had supplied only 123,000 tons of grain this year, all in January.
Russia is seeking to diversify wheat exports to Asia from its traditional customers in the Middle East but is likely to face stiff competition from the United States, supplies from which are set to grow following trade deals with Asian countries.
Prabowo has maintained Indonesia’s non-aligned foreign policy, vowing to befriend any country, including Russia and the United States. He has said Indonesia will not be joining any military bloc.
Russia has praised what it says is Indonesia’s balanced position on the war in Ukraine. Russia and Indonesia conducted their first joint naval exercises in the Java Sea in November 2024.
Military ties “are developing and are at a level of good professional cooperation”, Putin said. “Indonesian specialists are constantly training at our universities, including military academies.”
(Reporting by Ksenia Orlova, Vladimir Soldatkin and Gleb Bryanski; Writing by Mark Trevelyan and Lucy Papachristou, Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
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