JAKARTA – Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong is making his introductory visit to the Indonesian capital Jakarta from Nov 5 to 6.

       PM Wong, who is also Finance Minister, will meet Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto and Vice-President Gibran Rakabuming Raka.

       The two Indonesian leaders were inaugurated on Oct 20 during a ceremony that PM Wong attended.

       PM Wong will also meet the Speaker of the People’s Consultative Assembly, Mr Ahmad Muzani, and the Speaker of the Regional Representative Council, Mr Sultan Bachtiar Najamudin, said the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on Nov 5.

       “The visit reaffirms Singapore’s commitment to strengthening our longstanding friendship with Indonesia and provides an opportunity for leaders on both sides to exchange views on enhancing bilateral ties,” said the PMO.

       PM Wong is accompanied by Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen; Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan; Manpower Minister and Second Minister for Trade and Industry Tan See Leng; and Minister of State for Digital Development and Information and Health Rahayu Mahzam.

       PM Wong’s trip to Jakarta is part of his introductory visits to South-east Asian countries, which have included Malaysia, Brunei and Laos.

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       Singapore has been Indonesia’s top foreign investor since 2014.

       This will be the fourth time in 2024 that PM Wong and Mr Prabowo are meeting.

       Besides the inauguration, the pair had met during the Singapore-Indonesia Leaders’ Retreat hosted by then Indonesian President Joko Widodo in April.

       They met again in June when Mr Prabowo came to Singapore to deliver a special address at the 21st edition of the Shangri-La Dialogue.

       In 2023, Singapore recorded US$15.4 billion (S$20.3 billion) of foreign direct investment into the archipelago, and bilateral trade reached US$69 billion that year.

       Both countries are also among each other’s top sources of visitor arrivals. Singapore welcomed 2.3 million tourists from Indonesia in 2023, while Indonesia saw 1.4 million tourists from Singapore that year.

       In PM Wong’s absence, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong will be the acting prime minister.