President Prabowo Subianto proceeded with his contemporary diplomacy, holding bilateral meetings with State leaders on the sidelines of their participation in the G20 Leaders Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Prabowo met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, November 18, 2024, and with French President Emmanuel Macron on the following Tuesday.
In the meeting with Modi, Prabowo discussed various strategic collaboration opportunities in health, education, and trade as well as measures to strengthen bilateral India-Indonesia relations.
Prabowo highlighted potential cooperation in health and education sector as he revealed Indonesia’s urgent need of medical workers considering that Indonesia still lacks of 160 thousands of doctors.
“We hope that we can increase cooperation with India, especially for India to send professors and specialists to teach in our universities,” the Indonesian president said as quoted in a statement on Wednesday, November 20, 2024.
On the occasion, Prabowo appreciated the interest of Indian companies to invest in the health sector, including pharmaceutical industry, and open of foreign hospital in Indonesia. He emphasized the importance of increasing number of Indonesian students studying in India and encouraged solid educational sector collaboration.
Prabowo also emphasized the urgency of cooperation in trade sectors, especially on rice import from India.
Meeting with Macron
In the meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, Prabowo discussed a variety of strategic issues that become common priority in Indonesia-French relations.
The Indonesian president also praised the increased cooperation between increased Indonesia and French.
“We have been cooperating closely with French. There are many progresses,” Prabowo said as quoted in a statement on Wednesday.
The bilateral meeting between the Indonesian and French presidents was held in warm and productive situation, reflecting the growing close relationship between the two countries .
Accompanying President Prabowo in the meeting were Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Foreign Minister Sugiono and Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya.
