JAKARTA: Indonesia’s president-elect, Prabowo Subianto, sees Saudi Arabia as a main partner in resolving global issues, his office said on Thursday following a meeting with Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman.
Subianto, who is still serving as Indonesia’s defense minister before he takes the top office in October, visited Jeddah on Wednesday after attending an international aid conference on Gaza in Jordan.
In his first meeting with the Saudi Crown Prince since winning the general vote in February, Subianto highlighted the importance of cooperation between Jakarta and Riyadh to support international peace efforts.
“For Indonesia, Saudi Arabia is a main partner in dialogue and in resolving regional and global issues,” Subianto said, as quoted in a Ministry of Defense statement.
“I have witnessed (the Crown Prince’s) steadfastness in affirming Saudi leadership in the region, including to promote peace and stability for our brothers and sisters in Palestine. The issue of Palestine is very close to our hearts.”
Subianto pledged to increase contributions to the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees and send more medical teams to Gaza during the conference in Jordan, where he also called for a two-state solution for Palestine.
Indonesia and Saudi Arabia are part of a ministerial committee formed during the joint Arab-Islamic Extraordinary Summit last November, which has been working to rally international support for an immediate end to Israel’s war on Gaza.
