ASC Infosheet: Indonesia in Africa: Revitalizing Relations

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    Zhou Enlai, Soekarno and Nasser at the Bandung Conference

Since the end of the Suharto regime in 1998, Indonesia has been increasingly confident of its abilities in the international system. As the largest economy in Southeast Asia and with the fourth largest population in the world, with over 255 million people in 2015, Indonesia has increasingly made its voice heard, in particular in issues connected to the Global South. It has been a leading actor in this regard since the First Asia-Africa Conference in 1955. Twenty-nine nations from Asia and Africa participated in this conference, held in the city of Bandung. As part of the country’s new assertive and pragmatic foreign policy, since the early 2000s, in addition to focusing on building a political and security community within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and tightening linkages with the US, Australia, and emerging powers like India and Russia, Indonesia has increasingly turned to Africa.

This is Infosheet no. 29. Read the full text.