The Indonesian government is taking strategic steps to strengthen the national maritime industry through comprehensive cooperation with Russia. This initiative focuses on reinforcing the domestic shipbuilding ecosystem through technology transfer, foreign direct investment, and production collaboration, which is expected to bolster the competitiveness of Indonesia's maritime industry on the regional stage.
These efforts emerged during a forum titled Building an Indonesia–Russia Shipbuilding Partnership, held on the sidelines of the INNOPROM 2026 event in Yekaterinburg, Russia. Minister of Industry, Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita, emphasized that this partnership is a vital step toward transforming domestic industrial capacity to make it more adaptive to global technological demands.
The forum served as a strategic platform for shipbuilding industry stakeholders from both countries to explore business potential and marine engineering opportunities. The dialogue, which brought together industry associations from Indonesia and Russian shipyard companies, was moderated by representatives from the Directorate General of Metal, Machinery, Transportation Equipment, and Electronics Industries (ILMATE) of the Ministry of Industry.
This partnership is a tangible implementation of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by both countries in December 2025. The agreement encompasses a broad scope, ranging from shipbuilding and human resource development to strengthening maritime technology supply chains.
For Indonesia, with its geographical characteristics as an archipelagic nation, strengthening the shipbuilding industry is a national urgency. This sector plays a crucial role in supporting inter-island logistics distribution, fisheries operations, offshore energy, and accelerating equitable national economic growth based on maritime connectivity.
