Indonesia, Iran Sign Preferential Trade Agreement

Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi, left, speaks to journalists as Indonesian President Joko Widodo listens during a joint press conference at the Presidential Palace in Bogor, West Java, Indonesia, Tuesday, May 23, 2023. (AP)
Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi, left, speaks to journalists as Indonesian President Joko Widodo listens during a joint press conference at the Presidential Palace in Bogor, West Java, Indonesia, Tuesday, May 23, 2023. (AP)
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Indonesia, Iran Sign Preferential Trade Agreement

Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi, left, speaks to journalists as Indonesian President Joko Widodo listens during a joint press conference at the Presidential Palace in Bogor, West Java, Indonesia, Tuesday, May 23, 2023. (AP)
Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi, left, speaks to journalists as Indonesian President Joko Widodo listens during a joint press conference at the Presidential Palace in Bogor, West Java, Indonesia, Tuesday, May 23, 2023. (AP)

The leaders of Indonesia and Iran on Tuesday signed a preferential trade agreement to expand economic relations during an official visit by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to Jakarta.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo, speaking after the signing as streamed online by his cabinet secretariat, hoped the agreement “would increase trade between Indonesia and Iran” but did not provide details.

After signing 10 agreements at the Bogor Presidential Palace in Bogor, West Java, Widodo told media he hoped the PTA would increase transactions between Indonesia and Iran, reported AFP.

The agreement would give Indonesia greater access to Iranian markets, particularly with regard to its exports of vegetable oil, cocoa, coffee and tobacco, said the Indonesian Trade Ministry.

For his part, Raisi, who is on his first official visit to the archipelago nation, said that Iran and Indonesia have decided to increase their annual trade ties to $20 billion while seeking to use national currencies to settle trade payments.

“We believe that sanctions and threats cannot stop us in any way from cooperation and communication with neighboring countries, Muslim nations and countries that are aligned with us,” Raisi said.

Indonesian trade ministry official Djatmiko Bris Witjaksono said on Tuesday the two countries had agreed on a “countertrade” scheme in which goods and services can be exchanged “without being constrained by scarcity or currency difficulties.”

Two-way trade between the nations currently amounts to around $250 million, with the Southeast Asian country recording about a $200 million surplus, according to the Indonesian trade ministry.

Djatmiko told reporters on Monday Indonesia is keen to boost trade with the Middle East and the surrounding region.

“Iran could be a gateway to the surrounding region, such as Central Asia ... or even to Türkiye because we do not have any trade deal with Türkiye yet,” he said.

Under Tuesday's agreement, Iran would give Indonesia greater access to products like processed food and pharmaceuticals, textile, palm oil, coffee and tea, while Indonesia will lower tariffs for Iran's oil and chemical products, metals and some dairy products.

Raisi's visit comes as ties between Iran and the West have become increasingly strained following the Iranian security forces' violent crackdown on protests against the country's clerical elite after the death of a Kurdish woman in custody of the morality police last year.

Several countries, including the US, have imposed broad sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program and alleged rights violations.

This week, the EU imposed the eighth round of sanctions over Tehran's brutal crackdown on protests over the death of Mahsa Amini.

Trade between Indonesia and Iran dropped from $715.5 million to $141.6 million in 2019 after the US imposed its sanctions.



European Countries Vow Billions in Military Support for Ukraine as US Envoy Meets Putin

 Britain's Defense Secretary John Healey, left, Ukraine's Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, center and Germany's Defense Minister Boris Pistorius signing the letter of intent for a capability coalition for electro-magnetic warfare during a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Friday, April 11, 2025. (AP)
Britain's Defense Secretary John Healey, left, Ukraine's Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, center and Germany's Defense Minister Boris Pistorius signing the letter of intent for a capability coalition for electro-magnetic warfare during a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Friday, April 11, 2025. (AP)
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European Countries Vow Billions in Military Support for Ukraine as US Envoy Meets Putin

 Britain's Defense Secretary John Healey, left, Ukraine's Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, center and Germany's Defense Minister Boris Pistorius signing the letter of intent for a capability coalition for electro-magnetic warfare during a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Friday, April 11, 2025. (AP)
Britain's Defense Secretary John Healey, left, Ukraine's Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, center and Germany's Defense Minister Boris Pistorius signing the letter of intent for a capability coalition for electro-magnetic warfare during a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Friday, April 11, 2025. (AP)

European countries vowed Friday to sends billions of dollars in further funding to help Ukraine keep fighting Russia’s invasion, as a US envoy pursued peace efforts in a trip to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin amid growing questions about the Kremlin’s willingness to stop the more than three-year war.

Russian forces hold the advantage in Ukraine, with the war now in its fourth year. Ukraine has endorsed a US ceasefire proposal, but Russia has effectively blocked it by imposing far-reaching conditions. European governments have accused Putin of dragging his feet.

“Russia has to get moving” on the road to ending the war, US President Donald Trump posted on social media. He said the war is “terrible and senseless.”

In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff was in Russia and would meet with Putin in St. Petersburg. Witkoff, who has been pressing the Kremlin to accept a truce, initially met with Putin envoy Kirill Dmitriev, footage released by Russian media showed.

After chairing a meeting of Ukraine's Western backers in Brussels, British Defense Secretary John Healey said that new pledges of military aid totaled over 21 billion euros ($24 billion), “a record boost in military funding for Ukraine, and we are also surging that support to the frontline fight.”

Healey gave no breakdown of that figure, and Ukraine has in the past complained that some countries repeat old offers at such pledging conferences or fail to deliver real arms and ammunition worth the money they promise.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said last week that Ukraine’s backers have provided around $21 billion so far in the first three months of this year. European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Friday that more than $26 billion have been committed.

Ahead of the “contact group” meeting at NATO headquarters, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said a key issue was strengthening his country’s air defenses.

Standing alongside Healey at the end of it, Umerov described the meeting as “productive, effective and efficient,” and said that it produced “one of the largest” packages of assistance Ukraine has received. “We’re thankful to each nation that has provided this support,” he said.

Britain said that in a joint effort with Norway just over $580 million would be spent to provide hundreds of thousands of military drones, radar systems and anti-tank mines, as well as repair and maintenance contracts to keep Ukrainian armored vehicles on the battlefield.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has renewed his appeals for more Patriot systems since 20 people were killed a week ago, including nine children, when a Russian missile tore through apartment buildings and blasted a playground in his home town.

Zelenskyy joined Friday's meeting by video link.

Russia holds off agreeing to ceasefire

The Russian delay in accepting Washington's proposal has frustrated Trump and fueled doubts about whether Putin really wants to stop the fighting while his bigger army has momentum on the battlefield.

“Russia continues to use bilateral talks with the United States to delay negotiations about the war in Ukraine, suggesting that the Kremlin remains uninterested in serious peace negotiations to end the war,” the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank, said in an assessment late Thursday.

Washington remains committed to securing a peace deal, even though four weeks have passed since it made its ceasefire proposals, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said.

“It is a dynamic that will not be solved militarily. It is a meat grinder,” Bruce said Thursday about the war, adding that “nothing else can be discussed ... until the shooting and the killing stops.”

Observers expect a new Russian offensive

Ukrainian officials and military analysts believe Russia is preparing to launch a fresh military offensive in coming weeks to ramp up pressure and strengthen the Kremlin’s hand in the negotiations.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said that his country would provide Ukraine with four IRIS-T short- to medium-range systems with missiles, as well as 30 missiles for use on Patriot batteries. The Netherlands plans to supply a Hawkeye air defense system, an airborne early warning aircraft.

Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said that his country is monitoring the world armaments market and sees opportunities for Ukraine’s backers to buy more weapons and ammunition.

Pevkur said he believes Putin might try to reach some kind of settlement with Ukraine by May 9 — the day that Russia marks victory during World War II — making it even more vital to strengthen Kyiv’s position now.

“This is why we need to speed up the deliveries as quickly as we can,” he said.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was absent from the forum that the United States created and led for several years, although he spoke via video.

At the last contact group meeting in February, Hegseth warned Ukraine’s European backers that the US now has priorities elsewhere — in Asia and on America’s own borders — and that they would have to take care of their own security, and that of Ukraine, in future.