JAKARTA - President Prabowo Subianto met with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta.
Reported by ANTARA from a release from the Government Communication Agency (Bakom), the meeting became a momentum to strengthen bilateral relations which have been supported by cooperation in various sectors, especially education and economy.
Quoted from the Data of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australian Government, Friday showed that the relationship between Indonesia and Australia continues to grow. This is marked by an increase in student mobility, campus cooperation, to a spike in the value of trade between the two countries in recent years.
Educational cooperation
Educational relations are one of the main pillars of the partnership between Indonesia and Australia. In 2025, around 24,000 Indonesian students are enrolled in various Australian universities. In total, more than 200,000 Indonesians have studied in the country.
Indonesia is also one of the largest sources of international students for Australia. The Australian government provides around 220 scholarships and short-term programs every year through the Australia Awards Indonesia scheme.
A number of Australian universities have also started opening campuses and cooperation programs in Indonesia, including Monash University in Jakarta, Western Sydney University in Surabaya, and Deakin University in Bandung.
The presence of these campuses is part of Australia's commitment to developing Indonesian human resources.
Educational cooperation between the two countries also includes a number of strategic programs. The Australia-Indonesia BRIDGE School Partnerships Program brings together schools from both countries for learning cooperation, teacher training, and experience exchange.
In addition, the Innovation for Indonesian School Children or INOVASI program is a basic education cooperation to strengthen literacy and numeracy. The program entered the third phase in the 2024-2027 period with funding of 55 million Australian dollars.
At the higher education level, both countries run joint campus and joint program schemes to strengthen academic and research collaboration.
Meanwhile, various scholarship schemes are also continuing, such as the Australia Awards Scholarship, LPDP-Australia Awards, and the Australia-Indonesia Youth Exchange Program which encourages youth exchange and leadership development.
Economic cooperation
In the economic sector, the Indonesia-Australia relationship is supported by the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IA-CEPA) which came into force in July 2020. The agreement encourages the increase in trade and investment between the two countries.
The two-way trade value increased significantly from 12.91 billion Australian dollars in 2020 to 35.38 billion Australian dollars at the end of 2024. Throughout 2024, Australia was recorded as the 9th country with the largest two-way trade value with Indonesia, worth 16.13 billion Australian dollars.
In the same year, Indonesia recorded a trade surplus of 3.13 billion Australian dollars against Australia. In the period 2024-2025, Indonesia is also the 9th largest trading partner for Australia with a trade value of around 34.83 billion Australian dollars.
Trade growth is also seen from the increase in exports. In the last five years, Indonesian exports to Australia have increased by around 14.46 percent. Meanwhile, Australian exports to Indonesia increased by 17.42 percent in the same period.
In terms of investment, in 2024 the value of Australian investment in Indonesia reached 1.36 billion US dollars. Conversely, Indonesian investment in Australia was recorded at 1.42 billion US dollars in the same year.
The economic relationship between the two countries is also strengthened by people's mobility. In the period 2024-2025, around 1.75 million Australians are recorded to visit Indonesia, making the tourism sector one of the drivers of bilateral economic relations.
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