When Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto joined as the chief guest at India’s Republic Day celebration on 26 January 2025, it became his first trip to India as head of state. He was the fourth Indonesian leader to be chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations. For the record, President Suharto was the chief guest at the first Republic Day in 1950, the others being Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (2011) and Joko Widodo (2018) along with other Asean leaders. The two leaders ~ Prabowo and Prime Minister Narebdra Modi ~ used the opportunity to discuss bilateral issues to deepen the relationship. Issues such as security, energy security, defence and security cooperation dominated the discussion.

Other issues included trade and investment, healthcare and digital technologies. Several MoUs and announcements were finalised. Prabowo participated in a forum as part of an effort to enhance trade and investment. During the discussion, India pledged to support the Southeast Asian nation’s defence modernisation programme through experience and expertise sharing, besides taking steps to resolve outstanding tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade. Other areas covered in the discussion were counter terrorism, health and pharmaceuticals, food security, infrastructure and connectivity, science and technology, space cooperation, education and skill development, climate change and disaster resilience and IndoPacific initiatives. The most significant takeaway of Prabowo’s visit was Indonesia’s interest in acquiring the BrahMos missile system from India.

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Both sides reached a broad understanding on the pricing of the deal, expected to be worth around $450 million. As a goodwill gesture, India briefed a top-level Indonesian team about the Missile when it visited the BrahMos Aerospace headquarters and was........

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