Sambutan Presiden Prabowo pada Roundtable Business Summit di Washington DC, 18 Februari 2026

Welcome Indonesia. >> [applause] [applause] >> Thank you >> once again. >> Hey, how are you? You have another book [laughter] >> once again. >> Once again, >> oh I saw everybody a little bit later. The American business community greatly values our longstanding partner suggesting that US investment in the country was more than 60 billion dollars quite a lot to see in the United States a decade ago. I'm very pleased to be here in Washington DC at a very important moment in the relationship between India and United States. It's also a great honor for me to be invited here to be amongst you business leaders of both the US and of Indonesia. Uh, as you know, I'm here invited by the president of United States of America for I think a very important meeting of the board of peace. In fact, the first I think the first official meeting of the board of peace that is being that has been formed to attack [clears throat] uh and implementation and the continuation of the ceasefire in Gaza. and we are attempting to continue to forge a path towards uh a real and lasting solution of the Palestinian issue. Also, I'm here to conclude a major trade agreement between our two countries. I see an agreement that carries out real significance for businesses, investors between our two countries and in the greater region of the Pacific. It sets a clear signal that Indonesia and the United States are choosing continuing and deeper economic cooperation, stronger market access and greater [clears throat] certainty for business leaders. Certainty matters. Before I went to politics, I was also in business. That's why I think I can uh understand uh the business community with more empathy. I hope uh we are looking for serious long-term partners, partners who will work together with us, grow our economy together and uh profit with each other, providing benefits to each other. We hope we will find partners who are ready to join us in our continuing attempt to modernize and industrialize. Sorry. [clears throat] As uh president of my country, the Republic of Indonesia, my responsibility, I think is very very clear. I must ensure the sovereignty of my country. I must ensure good governance. I must ensure stability and peace and I must bring real and tangible uh benefits to my people in the shortest possible time. As is said many times by many wise leaders in history, the hungry stomach cannot wait. A lot of my people are still experiencing difficult situation. Many are still living under the poverty line. Many face hunger and these are difficulties that we must face and we must overcome. I am of the opinion that difficulties are to be confronted, difficulties must be solved, weaknesses must be acknowledged. We understand that only [clears throat] with stability, good governance can there be a climate that is attractive to foreign investors. No one wants to invest in a situation or an atmosphere of uncertainty, instability or even chaos. We are very fortunate that Indonesia has enjoyed quite a long period of relative stability, relative peace. We continue our foreign policy of non-alignment of respecting all great powers. I announced my determination when I took office of carrying out a policy of the good neighbor. the good neighbor policy. I am determined to foster and enhance the best of relationship between all the neighbors surrounding Indonesia uh in the in the near region surrounding us and also the wider region of uh East Asia and the Indo-Pacific. Uh, I hold to the policy of 1,000 friends, too few, and one enemy, too many. Not only in uh foreign policy, but also in my domestic politics. I learned that cooperation, collaboration, compromise is uh will in the end prove more beneficial and profitable to all sides. competition is necessary but uh after competition must come cooperation. This is my conviction and I think history teaches us that countries at the level of development like Indonesia must forge compromise cooperation and collaboration amongst the elites of our country. We have to have competition, but we must also have collaboration and cooperation for the sake of the greater good. In such a situation, I'm convinced that a climate of stability, a climate of confidence, will encourage investment. Most important I'm convinced of the importance of the rule of law of good governance. The fundamentals of our economy are strong. Uh we have maintained fiscal discipline. or inflation under control. I think one of the lowest foreign direct investments uh also uh proved to be very sound. uh we reached uh 53 billion US last year and I think this reflects uh real confidence in our economy with its size its grow potential or political stability and direct direction of our policies. We are growing at steady 5% plus continuing this continued trajectory and I I'm personally uh convinced that uh our growth will be much higher this year. the tangible indicators are already showing up. Uh we are moving the economy from the grassroots. Our economic strategy is very focused. First we want to have uh the ability to sustain our growth. But we need to control our economy in the sense that we must control the sound use of our natural resources. And uh this comes to my next point which I always like to discuss openly. We have weaknesses. Our um we have problems of good governance. We have problems of corruption. We have uh problems of weak institutional performance. Lot of smuggling going around going around a lot of uh illegal economic activities, mining, illegal fishing. uh illegal economic activities such as uh corporations uh maintaining plantations in protected forests. Uh this is has been a lot has been a long time problem but I choose to face this problem head on. I do not want to uh surrender the sovereignty of Indonesian government to uh these illegal cartels that uh perpetuates the loss of income, the loss of revenue that is due to the government and the people of Indonesia. We calculate the loss due to weak governance and mismanagement of our economy to be tremendous. In my first few months uh taking over the administration, I have uh saved from the budget of my country around $18 billion US uh cash from our budget. The savings come from uh inefficiency projects that are not productive. Maybe it could be similar to what was attempted or what has been attempted here in United States also with is that doge. Department [clears throat] of Government Efficiency, but uh I must say that I started first a few months before and I I feel I'm I'm I was successful. >> I feel uh empowered. I think I'm one of the few presidents of Indonesia that in the first three months of my of of the administration I I saved $18 billion in cash things that I that I canled for instance uh each government institution spent quite considerable able amount of money on ceremonies you know is is it our culture if it's our culture we must acknowledge it's it's a weakness on our part I mean we spend a lot of money on anniversaries so each and each each ministry has an anniversary each uh provincial government has anniversary each compat that our district has an anniversary and can you imagine how many hundreds of ceremonies we have every week, every month orientation and so I just cancelled. So I said the anniversary should be celebrated inside the inside the office maybe with a a small lunch perhaps uh just a take away from some restaurant just [laughter] just to rational you know let's think about what we can do for the people and what is this ceremony you know I mean this was my approach but I'm determined to and I did save a lot for money and we have a apart from ceremonies we have uh foreign travel was in the billions of dollars you know so I tried to cut down foreign travel uh from government uh institutions everybody wants a study tour to study something outside of each other I'm saying the problem with Asia is very clear, right? There was a there was a study tour studying uh poverty alleviation in Australia. Australia I think is one of the 10 richest country in the world, right? And what was said was when they sent the study team there, I I learned from my Australian friends, it was uh around Easter. I mean Australians being majority Christian. I mean at Easter they're on holidays. There was no there was no one this things like this happened and I'm determined just to you know be rational. I got a report that there was a study tour going to study tour of Indonesian officials going to Japan around the 20th October. I mean it's was Christmas time. I mean things like this I tried to have rationality. It was not easy in the in the beginning. In fact, I had demonstrations against me, but I think it was the first time in the history perhaps of the world that there was a demonstration against government efficiency. I don't know who was paying for this demonstrations, but I mean it was a it was pretty sad actually. So, um we are determined to treat our act. we must do it uh at all cost because uh in my opinion being once a foreign investor also in a country I mean uh nobody wants to enter an economy that is full of uncertainty that uh there is no confidence in uh legal processes and uh law enforcement. It's uh I think this is one of the most important thing and I think it behooves Indonesian leaders to to uh acknowledge this and I said that we must have the courage to acknowledge our weaknesses and tackle them. I'm very fortunate in having a good team helping me. Um I say let's do our best to produce better results for our people, our society. Uh the Indonesian people now they have access to information at a level never before known in our history. Everybody has gadgets and information travels very fast and uh I'm I'm experiencing the I would say the benefit but also the the stress sometimes that many village children uh speak directly to me on their Tik Tok on or and on their uh sending messages directly to the president. Mr. President, uh we don't have a bridge uh over our river here. We have to be wet every day going to school. And uh this comes direct to me, right? So I have to I have to be very uh quick in our reaction because uh they must feel that their government they must feel that the central government their president uh will listen to them will react and it was heartwarming. I got messages from uh headmaster of a very rated school in Papua who said uh they they see for the first time I sent them uh [snorts] I'm I'm uh providing a digital platform uh smart interactive uh screen in every classroom of every school in Indonesia and we delivered uh by the end of December 2025 we delivered 288,000 more than 280,000 uh screens. So that is nearly all the schools of Indonesia uh one screen per school and it will be in one classroom. But this year I intend to add another three to every school. So there'll be four screens to every school. And my target will be by the end of my term as president. All classrooms in all schools of Indonesia will have this interactive screen in which in the software the entire syllabus of our uh schools are in the software can be accessed any time and we can also have distance long distance uh education longd distance teaching so that every school of Indonesia wherever they are in the most isolated island in the most isolated mountain they will access to the best uh knowledge the best uh education they can get where there are no teachers we have a central studio of the best teachers of nature teaching uh through wrong distance. So this is what we call the digitalization of Indonesian uh education and we're going very serious about this. So uh this also uh for instance and I can from Jakarta I can see any classroom in any part region and I can see if the teacher is there or the teachers out there what is the uh what is the mood of the children and I'm very impressed now that very very fast. The children and the parents and the teachers are all enthusiastic about this and uh this is truly heartwarming for me to see the good results of this program. Uh to continue, we are seeing uh results now and uh we are now continuing with a lot of reforms. For instance, we have just formed our a new sovereign wealth fund. All our stateowned assets. We have uh consolidated into uh investment agency investment fund which we call Dantara and it's now headed by the minister of investment who concatly is the head of our uh new sovereign wealth fund. There's been an operation as nearly exactly one year. Exactly what uh 20 not yet one year 24th >> 24th February. February, 24th of February, which is a few years from now, we established the sovereign wealth fund. And you see the head has lost a lot of hair. Actually, actually, do you know the secret about this? This uh we call it [laughter] a little bit. The secret is actually this was designed to head lead to to hide leaders whose head are balding. So if I open my my kia you will see I'm also balding just after one year. So um yes we are open. We want uh we need investment. We want more investment and uh we are confident that uh we are competitive. We are attractive. We have a lot of uh minerals that are necessary for uh new technologies. Uh I think we are strong in critical minerals. I think I just got a report. I think we have one of the largest rare earth reserves in the world. Uh We are going ahead with processing downstream industries and I think Donantara will be a key engine for this uh for this move. For instance, we have just uh started initiate initiated uh 18 new projects downstream processing this year. 18 pro projects plus another uh three three billion dollar worth of u uh waste to energy processing plants which is very crucial for us to take care of our our waste management. So uh we are moving very fast in uh all of these sectors and I think uh I think for American companies Indonesia will not just be an attractive market but also we hope that will be used as a production base and that Indonesia can be viewed as a good strategic partner for the region. Our scale is very significant. Our demographics are strong and we renew our commitment to openness. Uh we have a lot long way to go. Infrastructure must be uh improved. Logistics must be improved to cut down cost. Uh we need more uh efficient ports, harbors, airports, highways. We want to go uh the digital path that can improve efficiency. We are working very hard to reduce costs, strengthen connectivity and to ensure supply chains operating through Indonesia that will be reliable. Energy transition is also part of our long-term strategy. We are committed to renewables, electric vehicles, green industries, but our approach is very pragmatic. We will go at a speed that is adjusted to our capacity. We pursue projects that must be economically sound, that must be bankable and capable of delivering long-term returns. Ladies and gentlemen, I've carried out uh large projects that what that are desired to address the reality of uh lot of our children facing hunger, malnutrition. I have uh carried out a free meal program which basically I I copied or I learned from the experience of the American experience and the European experience. I understand in most American schools, in most uh European schools, there has been female program for many many years. And I understand that this is actually a real part of the democratization process. Real democracy can be felt or can be uh can benefit all society most directly through education and through health services. This is why I learned what I learned and I'm convinced that this is correct. As you know uh my election as president of United of Republic of Nia uh has been a long journey. I took part in five attempts. 2004, 2009, 2014, 2019 and the fifth was 2024. So, uh four four defeats but final final success. What I learned from this forest defeats I learned during my campaign. My campaigns I traveled the country. I visited the villages and frankly I was shocked when I saw a lot of children in the villages were very small. I asked their age and children who I thought were four, five, six years old, they told me their age was 10, 11, 12. And then I [clears throat] learned that uh 25% of our children are experiencing stunting stunting growth. So their their brain cells are not to the optimum. Their their bone cells, their muscle cells. So they will be completely weak when they grow up physically also. So I was thinking that there's must be a way. We cannot accept this. And then I saw also the gap, the gap between the very rich at the top and most of the most my people are still uh experiencing poverty. And uh this uh made me even more determined to have policies that can immediately alleviate these uh these matters. And uh I I did this with determination and uh I used the savings that we made from inefficient, unproductive and uh frankly uh misuse of our government money, government funds, the budget that very frankly I would say uh has And had we not carried out strict efficiency would have gone would have evaporated uh being part of the corruption that we faced. So this money that I saved would have gone evaporated to corruption and this is the money that I used to reallocate to these uh programs. So I've been accused of being uh spending uh recklessly etc. No, no, this is reallocation of resources. And by the way, I met uh after few months of my program, I met some uh leaders from the Rockefeller Institute from the United States who came to Jakarta to study our free lunch program, free meal program. And they told me that this was the wisest choice, the best investment that any country could have made because for every dollar spent in free meals for the children, the return is according to the record for Institute, the return is at least $7 in the midterm. but could in the long term provide a return up to 35 times. That's the they say that they have done the research for many countries through many years and this is result. So I think uh we are now experiencing this. Some of the members of Apindo came to me a few I think last week and they experienced they said January was the highest domestic consumption for many many years I think for the last 10 or 15 years domestic consumption in January was the highest and they tell me that is because of the free meal program free meal program. We have uh now already 23,000 uh kitchens. Each kitchen employing 50 people in the village. Mothers who never had any income now have income. Uh they're working three or four shifts to provide food. But also this creates demand. Now each kitchen, each village has a need for eggs, for chicken, for vegetables, for tomatoes etc. So another 10 15 farmers have guaranteed uptake and this results in a multiplier effect which is creating some sort of boom from the bottom. So uh this encourages us and I think this also guarantees or enhances uh social and political stability. Uh we understand that uh employment is critical and very important [clears throat] and this creates real employment, real demand. Uh now production of nearly all agricultural goods are are very high. Now uh we have achieved the highest rice production in in the history of the Republic of Indonesia uh on all I think on all commodities now we are nearly self-sufficient [snorts and clears throat] uh except for a few. So uh ladies and gentlemen, I can go on and on uh about our uh achievements in the first year, but I think uh I will cut down uh my uh short uh remarks because as you know, if you give a political leader a microphone phone, he tends to not want to stop. I think this so um I've met many American uh business leaders even the short time that I've been here now I'm meeting you. I'm uh very uh optimistic. uh we want to see American companies as strategic partners and I think I've proven it. I think uh a lot of the long-term uh players in participants in our economy I think uh will testify how uh the mission government and myself also continuing in that uh in that uh tradition we have always tried to uh protect our investors. Uh we have always tried to be a good host and try to produce uh the best atmosphere for our for our investors and the US is one of our strongest partners. We can never forget that the United States supported our independent struggle. basic match. They intervened on our side uh during our war of independence and uh that can never be forgotten in our history. Many times the United States intervenes helping Indonesia in in the critical times. So that I also tell the younger generation of Indonesians to not forget the role that United States played in our uh in the birth of our nation uh politically and also economically. uh in the beginning and in critical times uh the United States supported us in the 60s when we had uh agriculture uh collapse because of the turmoil that was happening not only in Indonesia but all over Southeast Asia in the 60s. uh the United States uh came to us providing relief. I still remember I think this was called PL480. It was very important for us, significant and um so uh we we hope for a stronger American presence in our economy and uh I want to assure you that we are working very hard to basically for interest for the interest of our people. The in people demand a good governance, demand a clean government. This is my position. an ideal, a government that is clean [clears throat] and uh will create, promote and defend justice and the rule of law. Uh ladies and gentlemen, I think that concludes my remarks. Uh I apologize for maybe taking too much of the time allocated to me. But uh I conclude with the hope that relations between the US and Asia will continue to be good and we will flourish together. I believe that uh what I learned from American entrepreneurs is uh let's make money together, right? Win-win. Win-win. Everybody makes uh profit. It should be win-win. Everybody benefit. With benefit, prosperity. That's the lesson I learned from history. Prosperity comes from good governance, clean government. Prosperity comes from stability. Stability comes from a satisfied people. They're satisfied because they have confidence in their leaders. So, please come to Indonesia. >> Thank you very much. >> [applause]