Indonesia makes case for regional integration

Southeast Asian countries need deeper regional integration with their trading partners to support growth, a regional forum in Jakarta heard this week.

"Now, the world is based on realism… the world is not based only on ideologies or even not about economic ideologies [such as] capitalism versus socialism," Indonesia's Economy Coordinating Minister Airlangga Hartarto said in his keynote address at the Indonesia Economic Summit 2026.

The two-day event opened Tuesday in the Indonesian capital with the theme "Coming Together to Boost Resilience Growth and Shared Prosperity'. The forum, which was attended by senior officials, corporate executives and academicians from around the Asia-Pacific region, was organized by the Indonesian Business Council (IBC).

Airlangga cited last month's 2026 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, saying that he saw "most of its participants only talked about war".

This deviated from previous Davos forums, where people usually talked about new technology and new economic powers, the economy minister said.

Airlangga said that it is "critical" for middle powers like Indonesia to balance their relationship with major powers amid geopolitical changes. He added that Indonesia is discussing trade and economic deals with various partners, including Canada, the European Union, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Airlangga cited the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and how it has maintained regional peace and stability and is now among the world's fastest growing regional economies.

Teh Kok Peng, chairman of East Asian Institute at National University of Singapore, stressed the need for deeper integration in ASEAN.

"I think the more you get into the world of the globalization, the more ASEAN needs to create scale, needs to come together," Teh said.

He said ASEAN should work with its dialogue partners - China, Japan and South Korea - in developing the ASEAN Power Grid. This initiative aims to ensure regional energy security by integrating the electricity networks of all ASEAN member-states.

Arsjad Rasjid, chairperson of the IBC's board of trustees, said that the task for Indonesia is to translate its diplomatic capital into tangible economic benefits.

Rasjid also noted that Indonesia can also learn from China's development path. China is Indonesia's largest trading partner and one of its biggest sources of investment.

"China has experiences of achieving its development goals, and we can learn from its best practices including in food and energy resilience," Rasjid said on the sidelines of the forum.

Victor Gao, vice-president of the Center for China and Globalization, a Beijing-based think tank, praised Indonesia's cooperation with the Arab world and with various other countries, including China, Japan, Australia and India.

Gao said maintaining domestic stability is "crucially important" for Indonesia and other members of ASEAN.

Bambang Brodjonegoro, dean and chief executive officer of Asian Development Bank Institute and Indonesia's former minister of finance and former minister of National Development Planning, expects China to play an economic leadership role for the Asian economy.

"Asia needs China as it is moving toward high-income status," he said.

Abdullah Saleh Kamel, president of the Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Development and chairman of the Saudi Chambers Federation, said nations must share opportunities toward the common good for all, the welfare of their societies and the interests of their corporations, not just the interests of the powerful.

"The opportunity before us today is greater than ever to work together and become a single voice, not only regionally but internationally," Kamel said.

Kamel also discussed Saudi Vision 2030 which has opened the Saudi Stock Market to foreign investors and allowed foreign nationals to own personal property in the majority of Saudi Arabia.

The author is a freelance journalist for China Daily.