During the meeting with PM Fumio Kishida in Tokyo, Prabowo underlined the need for Indonesia and Japan to continue enhancing multi-sectoral bilateral partnerships.
Mr. Prabowos remarks reminded me of the famous Bandung Conference held 67 years ago in Indonesia."
Subianto said Indonesia is committed to further advance bilateral cooperation with its neighbor country in defense to also create stability in the region.
TheIndonesia.id - Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto presented a pistol manufactured by state-owned weapons manufacturer PT Pindad as a memento to his counterpart Florence Parly following a bilateral meeting on Thursday, February 10, 2022.
According to a press release issued by the public relations bureau of the Secretariat General of Defense Ministry here on Friday, the pistol was a white and gold G2 Elite pistol with the French Defence Minister’s name inscribed on it.
The weapon has a 9x19 mm parabellum caliber, with a magazine capable of restoring 15 bullets, as per PT Pindad’s official site.
It also has an adjustable rear plate and a barrel length of 5 inches, allowing for high accuracy.
Subianto also presented a batik scarf with brown and dark blue accents to Parly, who immediately put it on in place of her own white and blue scarf, which she wore when she arrived at the Indonesian Defense Ministry headquarters.
Subianto said that Indonesia and France's bilateral cooperation in the defense sector is running very well.
"We had signed a defense cooperation agreement on June 28, 2021. Still, it must be ratified by our legislative body to be carried out properly," he added.
Several agreements were signed at the latest meeting, which were witnessed by both the ministers.
Under one of the agreements, the Indonesian Defense Ministry has agreed to buy six Rafale fighters from French Dassault Aviation. Under the contract, Indonesia will purchase a total of 42 Rafale fighters in stages, Subianto noted.
The $8.1 billion deal, France's DefenSe ministry said on Thursday, as part of a series of agreements also including submarine development and ammunition, making Jakarta the biggest French arms client in the region.
The deal comes as Paris, which views itself as a global maritime power, seeks to expand geopolitical ties in the Indo-Pacific after the United States, Britain and Australia created a new strategic alliance last year called AUKUS.
In addition, a number of MoUs on cooperation on research and development of submarines between Indonesian state-run ship manufacturer PT PAL and the Naval Group as well as cooperation in manufacturing large-caliber munitions between PT Pindad and Nexter Munition were also signed during the meeting.
