On 4 May 2026, Minister of Defence Sjafrie of the Republic of Indonesia, and Minister of Defense Koizumi of Japan, held a defense ministers’ meeting in Jakarta.
The two Ministers welcomed the steady strengthening of defence cooperation, including people-to-people exchanges, education, capacity building, and joint exercises between the defence authorities, under the framework of the “Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.” Under their leadership, the two Ministers signed the Defence Cooperation Arrangement (DCA) with a view to further promoting mutually beneficial bilateral defence cooperation and contributing to the peace and stability of both countries and the region.
The Arrangement expands upon the Memorandum on Cooperation and Exchanges in the Field of Defense signed in 2015, and provides a framework to further advance bilateral defence cooperation. It includes, inter alia, enhanced cooperation in the areas of people-to-people exchanges, education and research, joint training, maritime security, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HA/DR), as well as defence equipment and technology cooperation.
Under this Arrangement, the two Ministers shared a recognition to develop the “Integrated Defence Dialogue Mechanism” in order to further expand and deepen the defence partnership between the two countries in an integrated and comprehensive manner, through the promotion of defence strategic dialogues on policy matters, including cooperation in defence equipment and technology, to be conducted at the senior officials level, as well as meetings between the Japan Self-Defense Forces and the Indonesian National Armed Forces at appropriate operational levels, including senior operational-level authorities.
The two Ministers also concurred on enhancing discussions on measures to protect classified military information, with a view to strengthening operational cooperation, and further concurred that, when necessary to ensure the security of both countries and peace and stability in the region, both sides would consult with each other.
Minister Koizumi explained Japan’s recent revision of its defense equipment transfer framework and emphasized Japan’s clear intention, under its consistent policy of contributing to peace and stability of the region and the world, to further expand and deepen substantive partnership and collaboration with Indonesia based on the revised framework. In response, Minister Sjafrie conveyed Indonesia’s readiness to explore areas of practical cooperation within the revised framework that are consistent with Indonesia’s national interests, applicable laws and regulations, and Indonesia’s longstanding commitment to the free and active foreign policy, peaceful resolution of disputes and respect for international law. The two Ministers emphasized that any such cooperation should contribute constructively to regional stability, inclusive multilateral engagement, and ASEAN centrality.
The two Ministers concurred, under the revised defense equipment transfer framework, cooperating and ensuring the security of both countries as well as the peace and stability of the region. Taking into account the progress of discussions between the defence practitioners in the field of maritime security, they also concurred on the direction of cooperation in the field of defence equipment and technology that would contribute to enhancing the maritime deterrence capabilities of both countries and instructed their officials to conduct further examinations at the working level.
Looking across the entire Indo‑Pacific and in order to jointly contribute to regional and global peace and stability, the two Ministers concurred on proceeding with discussions on cooperation within multilateral frameworks, including trilateral cooperation between Australia, Indonesia, and Japan, in addition to other frameworks such as the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting Plus (ADMM‑Plus).