Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto stated that Indonesia and Brazil agreed to immediately start the comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) negotiations between Indonesia and the Southern Common Market (Mercosur).

Mercosur is a South American trade bloc comprising Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Bolivia.

"We agreed to move towards a comprehensive economic partnership agreement ... we received support from Brazil, which currently holds the Mercosur presidency," he said in a joint press conference with his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, here on Thursday.

President Prabowo also noted that Indonesia and Brazil have forged strategic cooperation, including a defense cooperation agreement (DCA), which currently awaits ratification.

In addition, the two countries have also established economic and business cooperation, including those agreed by several institutions and business entities from Indonesia and Brazil on Thursday.

"We are two new economic powers that are consistently on the rise. We are two forces of the Global South. Thus, cooperation between Indonesia and Brazil has strategic significance, and we both view this relationship as very important," he said.

The President underscored that, based on his discussion with President Lula, both Indonesia and Brazil are determined to continuously enhance cooperation in various fields.

During their meeting at the Merdeka Palace on Thursday, both leaders witnessed the signing of eight memoranda of understanding (MoUs) between the two countries with a potential value of over US$5 billion.

Those MoUs include cooperation in science, technology, and innovation between the Indonesian National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) and the Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation, and cooperation in statistics between Statistics Indonesia (BPS) and the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics.

President Lula's state visit to Jakarta is part of his Southeast Asia tour and is also a reciprocal visit, as President Prabowo previously visited Brasilia on July 9, 2025.

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