Russia has proposed deepening military, security, trade and nuclear ties with Indonesia, which has the world’s fourth-largest population.
Prabowo previously visited Russia in August 2024, when he was defence minister and president-elect, and described Moscow as a “great friend”, saying he hoped for stronger cooperation on defence, energy and education.
Indonesia has said that it wants to build its first nuclear power plant by 2032, with 500MW capacity, aiming for it to come online in the next decade. Authorities said interested developers included Russia’s Rosatom, China CNNC, and US small modular reactor producer NuScale.
Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s biggest economy, currently relies mostly on coal as a source of power despite boasting massive potential for renewable energy sources such as hydro, solar and geothermal.
With expectations of high energy demand in the future, Indonesia is seeking to boost power generation capacity while capping its carbon emissions, eyeing nuclear power as the solution.
Source: CNA
