New Delhi: Ambassador Ina H. Krisnamurthi, Indonesia’s Envoy to India in conversation with StratNews Global Associate Editor Amitabh P. Revi.
“India and Indonesia need to build connectivity, not only in terms of hard infrastructure, but also connectivity between the past, the present and the future”, Ambassador Krisnamurthi says, reflecting on centuries of civilisational, cultural and linguistic links. The Envoy looks forward to “maybe having the ‘Bali Yatra’ next year by bringing a very beautiful ship we have to India”. In Odisha especially, the ‘Voyage to Bali’ is marked every year on Kartika Purnima as the day that seafaring traders departed for the Indonesian islands. Most don’t realise, the Ambassador points out that India and Indonesia are real neighbours as “the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are actually only 120 kilometres—just a one hour flight from Aceh, Indonesia”.
Watch this comprehensive interview on the Indonesia-India partnership, maritime cooperation, the Andaman-Sabang port joint task force, the importance of defence cooperation that is highlighted by the fact that Jakarta’s Defence Attache in Delhi is a Marine General, CORPATs or coordinated naval patrols, defence and security dialogue on sharing best practices and knowledge of the best technology, whether the BrahMos supersonic missile is on Indonesia’s wish-list, the close coordination in G20 with the Summit under Indonesia’s Presidency and India taking over in December, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the common Indonesia-India interests in preserving supply chains, especially in grain, fertiliser, energy and oil including palm oil, the envoy’s visits to Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Assam in the last few months, ASEAN, RCEP, IPEF, BRI and Indonesia’s views on the Quad and AUKUS.
