Vice President Gibran Meets Laos Deputy PM, Explores Opportunities to Build Fertiliser Plant in Laos

The Indonesian government is exploring investment opportunities in the fertiliser industry in Laos as part of efforts to strengthen national food security while reducing dependence on imports of raw materials. This plan emerged during a meeting between Vice President Gibran Rakabuming and Deputy Prime Minister cum Foreign Minister of Laos, Thongsavan Phomvihane. “Earlier, the Vice President conveyed to His Excellency the Deputy Prime Minister to explore the possibility of Pupuk Indonesia investing in Laos to produce fertiliser and its downstream processing, yes. That’s the first point,” said Deputy Head of the SOE Coordinating Body Aminuddin Ma’ruf on Tuesday (5/5/2026). He added that this step is driven by Indonesia’s high dependence on importing fertiliser raw materials from Laos. “Because Pupuk Indonesia imports fertiliser raw materials, namely potash, worth approximately $60 million per year from Laos,” he said. According to him, one of the investment opportunities being studied is the construction of a production facility or fertiliser plant in Laos to reduce costs and strengthen the supply chain. “Yes, one of them is to reduce dependence on raw materials in Laos; perhaps one of the investment opportunities we need to explore is establishing a fertiliser plant there to reduce raw material costs,” he said. Nevertheless, he stated that the plan is still in the early stages and will be followed up through cross-party technical discussions. “Yes, as I mentioned, this is just the first meeting between state leaders. Later, we, along with the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, have already coordinated and conveyed to the Indonesian Ambassador to Laos for us to explore the next follow-up meeting, which will also involve relevant SOEs directly,” he said. According to him, this step is considered important given that Indonesia’s imports from Laos are dominated almost entirely by potash commodities as fertiliser raw materials. The effort is also directed towards supporting the vision of food sovereignty and security, not only domestically but also at the Southeast Asian regional level. “To enhance cooperation in realising the President’s vision of food sovereignty and security that is not only focused on Indonesia but also food security on a regional scale, namely Southeast Asia. And the importance and strategic nature of Laos was explained in the meeting that was discussed earlier,” he said.