Widodo bids to strengthen Africa ties at Indonesia-Africa forum

The second Indonesia-Africa Forum will take place in Bali next week, as Jakarta looks to build new partnerships and open up new trade markets in Africa.

The event, which is taking place just days before the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Beijing, reflects the increased amount of attention and resources that the Southeast Asian country is dedicating to Africa.

In 2023, Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo made his first presidential trip to Africa, visiting Kenya, Tanzania (pictured above with President Samia Suluhu Hassan), Mozambique, and South Africa with the aim of “strengthening solidary and cooperation among the Global South countries.”

Since then, Indonesia has committed to formulating a five-year development plan for Africa, although specific details on this are yet to emerge. However, Indonesia has been steadily increasing the amount of development aid given to African countries, with 60 such programmes launched over the past decade focused on issues including food security, energy, and health.

In 2019, Indonesia launched its International Development Cooperation Agency and has since partnered with 23 African countries on development programmes.

Christophe Dorigné-Thomson, a Jakarta-based academic specialising in Indonesia-Africa relations, tells African Business that Indonesia is seeking to use these development efforts as a springboard for closer economic relationships.

“Indonesia’s development agency is designed to support their trade efforts – the government has explicitly said that the idea is to facilitate trade negotiations and business deals,” he says. “The government previously aimed to invest in African infrastructure, but since they have needed the money locally, they have redesigned the model.”

“Indonesia needs new allies and Africa is a perfect ally because they want to benefit from Africa’s critical minerals. Indonesia is also going through rapid industrialisation, for which it needs African commodities,” Dorigné-Thomson adds.

Asia-Africa ties deepen

Several other Asian countries have attempted to develop relations with Africa for similar reasons. In July this year, the inaugural Korea-Africa summit took place in Seoul as the Korean government seeks to secure access to the critical minerals on which the country’s huge technology industry depends. Japan’s private sector has increased its presence in Africa, which is seen as an answer to some of Tokyo’s issues around economic stagnation. China has been Africa’s largest trading partner for over a decade.

Dorigné-Thomson argues that, as only a newly industrialised country, Indonesia is seeking to position itself as a more natural partner for Africa compared to its more economically developed neighbours.

“It is presenting itself to African countries as having a different kind of economic model compared with Japan, Korea, and China and as having a smaller development gap,” he says, something which potentially makes Indonesia’s experiences more relatable for African countries which are similarly in the economic development process.

However, Dorigné-Thomson is sceptical as to whether tangible progress will be made at the upcoming forum.

“The main question mark is investment capacity. Sometimes discussions [about deepening the Africa-Indonesia relationship] can seem a bit abstract,” he says.

“But the important thing is that the will is there. Indonesia is interested in Africa and I think Africa is going to remain a priority.”