PM Modi begins Indonesia visit aimed at strengthening India’s Act East Policy
A high-level bilateral visit to Indonesia took place as the first leg of a three-nation tour (also covering Australia and New Zealand), aimed at deepening India's strategic engagement in Southeast Asia and the broader Indo-Pacific.
Discussions with the Indonesian President focused on adding momentum to the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership across sectors including defence, maritime security, trade, digital connectivity, critical minerals, energy, pharma, and space.
The visit reinforces Indonesia's identification by the Ministry of External Affairs as a "key pillar" of India's Act East Policy, with both nations sharing a vision for a free, open, and inclusive Indo-Pacific.
Act East Policy (AEP)
India's Act East Policy was launched in 2014 at the East Asia Summit as an upgrade of the earlier Look East Policy (introduced in 1992 by Prime Minister Narasimha Rao). The shift from "Look" to "Act" signals a move from diplomatic orientation to active economic, strategic, and security integration with Southeast and East Asia. The policy is built around four Cs: Culture, Commerce, Connectivity, and Capacity building.
Key Details
- Look East Policy (1992): primarily economic engagement with Southeast Asia, counterweight to China's regional influence.
- Act East Policy (2014): broader scope — includes East Asia, deeper security cooperation, and explicit Indo-Pacific framing.
- ASEAN is the cornerstone of Act East; Indonesia, as ASEAN's largest economy and a maritime nation straddling critical sea lanes, is particularly central.
- The 2018 Delhi Commemorative ASEAN-India Summit formally reaffirmed ASEAN centrality in India's foreign policy.
The bilateral visit is a direct operational expression of Act East Policy — engagement with Indonesia advances both ASEAN integration and the Indo-Pacific security architecture.
India-Indonesia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership
India and Indonesia elevated ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in May 2018 during a visit to Jakarta. This is India's highest category of bilateral engagement. The partnership encompasses political dialogue, defence cooperation, maritime security, and trade.
Key Details
- The two countries share a "Shared Vision of India-Indonesia Maritime Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific," reflecting convergence on ASEAN centrality and a rules-based order.
- Strategic synergy exists between India's Act East Policy + SAGAR (Security and Growth for all in the Region) doctrine and Indonesia's "Global Maritime Fulcrum" (Poros Maritim Dunia) vision under former President Joko Widodo.
- Joint naval exercise: Samudra Shakti; coordinated patrols take place in the Indian Ocean Region.
- The Joint Defence Cooperation Committee and Biennial Defence Ministers' Dialogue are institutionalised formats.
- A state visit by the Indonesian President to India in January 2025 provided fresh impetus before this July 2026 engagement.
The visit operationalises the 2018 framework with new deliverables in digital payments (UPI-QRIS linkage), critical minerals, and defence co-production — moving the partnership from a statement of intent to tangible outcomes.
SAGAR Doctrine and Indo-Pacific Vision
India's SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region) doctrine, articulated in 2015, frames India's approach to the Indian Ocean as one of inclusive security, freedom of navigation, and shared prosperity — not dominance. The Indo-Pacific construct overlaps with Act East by extending India's strategic horizon from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific, with ASEAN centrality as a foundational principle.
Key Details
- India supports a free and open Indo-Pacific: freedom of navigation, overflight, and unimpeded commerce.
- Indonesia controls the Strait of Malacca (jointly with Malaysia and Singapore), the Sunda Strait, and the Lombok Strait — all critical chokepoints for global maritime trade.
- India's bilateral maritime partnerships in the Indo-Pacific serve both economic (trade route security) and strategic (balance of power) objectives.
Deepening maritime security cooperation with Indonesia directly serves India's Indo-Pacific goals, since Indonesia's archipelagic geography controls sea lanes vital to India's energy imports and export routes.
- Indonesia is India's largest trading partner within ASEAN.
- Bilateral trade stood at approximately USD 24.8 billion in FY2026 (down from USD 38.8 billion in FY2023), with a stated ambition to reach USD 80 billion within 3–4 years.
- India exports petroleum products, motor vehicles, and agricultural commodities to Indonesia; it imports coal, electronics components, and vegetable oils.
- Indonesia is the world's largest archipelagic state, comprising over 17,000 islands, and controls three major Indo-Pacific straits.
- Look East Policy launched: 1992; Act East Policy launched: 2014 (East Asia Summit, Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar).
- India-Indonesia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership established: May 2018.
- Joint naval exercise: Samudra Shakti (bilateral); India also participates in MILAN (multilateral).