President Prabowo Subianto has urged Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to expedite negotiations on a trade agreement between Indonesia and the Mercosur bloc. Mercosur is a Latin American trade bloc consisting of four member countries: Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. 

Prabowo stated that the combined market size between Indonesia and Brazil reaches around 500 million people. He said that a comprehensive economic partnership agreement between Indonesia and Mercosur, or IM-CEPA, would create significant economic value. 

“Indonesia is now part of BRICS. If we have IM-CEPA, it will greatly strengthen our economic power,” Prabowo said during a bilateral meeting with Lula in at the Indonesian State Palace in Jakarta, Thursday, October 23. 

During the meeting, Prabowo mentioned that the two countries would produce four agreements and memoranda of understanding. However, the President did not provide details regarding the specific content of the bilateral agreements. 

Nevertheless, Prabowo indicated that the negotiation process for the four bilateral agreements had already begun in July 2025. As noted, President Prabowo made a state visit to Brasília, Brazil, following his attendance at the BRICS Summit in the same city on July 6–7, 2025. 

“The last time I met President Lula was in July, and now it’s already October 2025. So, we’ve made rapid progress over the past two months,” he said. 

Earlier, Trade Minister Budi Santoso had announced plans to expand Indonesia’s export markets in 2026, with a focus on two main regions — the Middle East and Latin America. 

The government has initiated preliminary talks for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in the Middle East, as well as a multilateral trade agreement with Mercosur in Latin America. This strategy is intended to maintain the country’s trade surplus momentum, which has persisted since May 2020. 

Budi noted that Indonesia’s exports from January to August 2025 increased by 7.72%, rising from USD 171.86 billion in the same period last year to USD 185.12 billion. Meanwhile, the trade surplus grew more sharply, by 53.3%, reaching USD 29.14 billion. 

This article is published in partnership with Katadata 

Original article here