Industry Ministry Strengthens Manufacturing Cooperation Between Indonesia and Belarus

The Ministry of Industry (Kemenperin) is strengthening domestic manufacturing cooperation with Belarus to enhance national industrial competitiveness, attract investment, and reinforce the supply chains of both countries. Minister of Industry Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita stated that this move is part of Indonesia’s efforts to expand strategic industrial partnerships in the Eurasian region. Belarus is considered a potential partner for Indonesia due to its strengths in heavy equipment, mining vehicles, cargo vehicles, and agricultural machinery. Collaboration with the country is expected to support national industrial transformation while opening new investment opportunities. “Strengthening industrial cooperation must be directed towards concrete and mutually beneficial collaboration to support the development of the manufacturing sectors in both countries,” said the Minister. This strengthened cooperation was the focus of a bilateral meeting between Tri Supondy, Director General of Resilience, Regionalisation, and International Industrial Access (KPAII) at Kemenperin, and Andrei Kuznetsov, Minister of Industry of the Republic of Belarus, on the sidelines of the BRICS Forum on Partnership on New Industrial Revolution (PartNIR) 2026 in Xiamen, China, at the end of May. The partnership follows up on a meeting between Minister Agus Gumiwang and Belarusian Deputy Prime Minister H.E. Viktor Karankevich in Jakarta in December 2025. Since then, both sides have actively opened dialogue to explore more implementable cooperation opportunities in manufacturing and investment. One of the main agendas discussed in Xiamen was the opportunity for cooperation in the mining vehicle and cargo vehicle industries. Belarus, which has strong experience and capacity in this sector, is seen as a strategic partner for domestic industrial development. Both parties also discussed the possibility of developing Belarusian vehicle assembly facilities in Indonesia through partnerships with national industry players. “We see great opportunities to build more concrete collaboration through investment development, industrial partnerships, technology transfer, and supply chain strengthening that benefits both countries,” said the KPAII Director General. According to him, Kemenperin continues to open global cooperation opportunities to support national industrial growth while expanding market access for Indonesia’s leading products. Bilateral relations between Indonesia and Belarus, established since 1993, show a positive trend. In 2025, non-oil and gas trade between the two countries reached 221.3 million US dollars. Indonesia’s exports to Belarus were recorded at 79.6 million US dollars, an increase of 82.57 percent compared to the previous year. Indonesia’s main export products to Belarus include electronic components, palm oil products, processed fishery products, textiles, and coffee, cocoa, and tea commodities. Meanwhile, Indonesia imports fertiliser, livestock products, chemicals, measuring instruments, tractors, and agricultural machinery from Belarus. In the investment sector, Belarus also recorded positive growth of 15.6 percent in the 2023–2025 period, with an average investment value of 5.3 million US dollars. To strengthen the legal framework for cooperation, Indonesia and Belarus are accelerating the finalisation of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Industrial Cooperation. The agreement will cover various priority sectors, including agro-based industries, electric and automotive vehicles, heavy equipment, industrial estates, metals, medical devices, chemical-petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, human resource development, digital creative industries, Industry 4.0, green industry, and standardisation. The government is targeting the signing of the MoU to take place during the upcoming visit of the President of Belarus to Indonesia. Additionally, both countries discussed the progress of the implementation of the Indonesia–Eurasian Economic Union Free Trade Agreement (I-EAEU FTA), which was signed in December 2025. The agreement provides preferential tariffs for more than 90 percent of trade products between Indonesia and Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) member countries, including Belarus.