PM Lawrence Wong at the Singapore-Indonesia Leaders' Retreat Joint Press Conference with Indonesia President Prabowo Subianto (Jul 2026)

Your Excellency President Prabowo Subianto
Distinguished ministers in both the Singapore and Indonesia delegations
Ladies and gentlemen

Thank you once again Bapak President for the warm and generous hospitality extended to me and my delegation.

The Leaders’ Retreat is a unique feature of the Singapore-Indonesia relationship, it reflects the special relationship between our two countries, one that is characterised by close ties, as well as mutual trust, respect and understanding. And I am very happy today to have had the opportunity to have very fruitful, open, candid, heart to heart talk with President Prabowo on how we can take our partnership even further.

As I shared earlier over lunch, Singapore has every confidence in Indonesia’s future. We want Indonesia to succeed because our futures are closely linked. 

And our confidence is reflected in our actions, that is why Singapore has been investing consistently in Indonesia over many years. And we will continue to do so. These investments are more than just capital flows. They create businesses, downstream industries, digital infrastructure, opportunities and good jobs for Indonesians. And our companies continue to see many opportunities here. And that is evident also from our flagship collaborations. For example, investor interest in the Batam, Bintan and Karimun (BBK) region remains strong. The BBK is rapidly transforming into a vibrant digital hub and attracting leading companies to invest there. Both sides are also exploring new opportunities in advanced technologies and the digital economy¹. The Kendal Industrial Park (KIP), celebrates its 10^th anniversary this year, and that is also another success story. It has reached full capacity and will now expand by another 1,000 hectares. This expansion will catalyse more investments, create more jobs, and support Indonesia’s continued development and growth. With more trade and investment links, we are also committed to strengthening our supply chain resilience so that our two countries can better support one another as we navigate any external shocks. 

And even as we advance our existing projects, we both agreed, Bapak President and I, that we must continue looking ahead.

By working together, we can create many more opportunities for our peoples, strengthen our resilience, and make our two countries, as well as our region in ASEAN more competitive. And you can see that commitment to additional cooperation from the many agreements and MOUs that we signed today.

Let me just highlight briefly the three areas where we are doing more together.

First, in the energy sector. Recent developments in the Middle East have reminded us of the importance of energy security and diversification. Indonesia has tremendous potential in renewable energy and Singapore would like to partner Indonesia in unlocking this potential. That is why we are jointly constructing one of Indonesia’s largest solar projects in Morowali², in Central Sulawesi. This will unlock the clean supply of electricity to power industries there. Today we have also signed MOUs between Danantara and Keppel Electric, Sembcorp Industries and the Singapore Energy Interconnections. And this will provide a clear road map for negotiation and discussions between the parties paving the way for our cross-border electricity projects. We believe such a project is a win-win for both countries, and it will also be an important building block for a wider ASEAN Power Grid – that will strengthen energy security across our region.

Second, President Prabowo and I agreed to continue deepening people-to-people ties, which are the bedrock of our bilateral relationship. President Prabowo’s Garuda Schools programme has taken off. We want to promote more exchanges with the Garuda schools, so that our youths can learn from one another. In fact, our universities welcomed students from SMA Taruna Nusantara in Central Java in April this year, and they plan to make a reciprocal visit next month. Such programmes build friendships and understanding between our people.

And with more people-to-people exchanges, we also look forward to better connectivity. Our carriers have just launched direct flights between Singapore and Pontianak, in West Kalimantan last week. We hope to see more flight connections to different parts of Indonesia. That will enable more tourists to experience the beauty of Indonesia, support business travel, and facilitate more interactions between our people.

Finally, President Prabowo and I also agreed to strengthen the institutional links between our two countries. In particular, good relations between the SAF and the TNI foster trust between our two countries. And here I again want to thank and particularly highlight President Prabowo’s contributions and the important role he played, in fostering strong ties between our militaries when he was Defence Minister. Under our defence cooperation agreement, the SAF and the TNI are exploring the co-development of training facilities in Batu Raja, West Kalimantan, and the Siabu Air Weapons Range (AWR). These initiatives will provide even more mutually beneficial opportunities for us to train together and deepen our long-standing defence relations. Singapore will also continue to support Indonesia’s development priorities through capacity-building programmes, including in areas like healthcare and agricultural technology.

The President and I also had very good discussions on regional and global developments. We agreed on the importance of ASEAN and ASEAN centrality. And next year as Singapore gets ready to be the chair of ASEAN, we will engage and consult with Indonesia closely to shape the agenda for our chairmanship year. We also discussed developments in the Middle East and how they have implications for Singapore and Indonesia, especially in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore. As littoral states bordering the Straits of Malacca and Singapore, both Singapore and Indonesia are strategically aligned. We both share interest in upholding navigational rights and freedoms, and keeping sea lines of communication open to all, including the right of unimpeded transit passage, in accordance with the 1982 UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) which is also customary international law. So both President Prabowo and I agreed that we will do our part, together with the other littoral states to ensure that the Strait of Malacca and the Strait of Singapore remain safe, open and accessible to all. 

As you can see from our discussions, Singapore and Indonesia are trusted partners, trusted partners with a shared stake in one another’s success. Our partnership is deep, it is forward-looking, and full of potential. And together, we can create more opportunities than either of us could achieve alone.

So once again, Bapak President, I thank you for your friendship, I thank you for your partnership, and your support for stronger Indonesia-Singapore relations as we look forward to celebrating 60 years of diplomatic ties next year. We also want to prepare ourselves to work closely with you and your team to mark this milestone, and to take Singapore-Indonesia ties to even greater heights. Once again, thank you, terima kasih Bapak President.

[1] Singapore and Indonesia are jointly commissioning a study on BBK’s technology sector to identify future opportunities and develop concrete recommendations to drive growth.

[2] Sembcorp is partnering PT Sumber Energi Surya Nusantara (SESNA) and the Indonesia Investment Authority to develop one of Indonesia’s largest utility-scale solar projects at Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park in Central Sulawesi.