RRI.CO.ID, Jakarta — Indonesia and Chile have agreed to strengthen trade cooperation to expand access to global markets. This agreement was reached during a bilateral meeting held in Jakarta on Monday, 20 July 2026.

Indonesian Minister of Trade Budi Santoso met with Chilean Foreign Affairs Minister José Francisco Pérez Mackenna to discuss bilateral trade growth. Their meeting aimed to optimize the Indonesia-Chile Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IC-CEPA), which continues to evolve.

“Indonesia appreciates the strengthening of trade relations with Chile, which continues to show positive and promising progress. Indonesia and Chile already have the IC-CEPA trade agreement. The next step for both countries is to optimize this agreement to increase trade value while expanding market access for both nations,” said the Trade Minister following the meeting.

The trade in goods sector has been active since 2019, while the services trade sector was implemented in 2025. Currently, both nations are actively negotiating to expand their partnership into the investment sector.

“We are conducting the negotiations and implementation of the IC-CEPA in phases based on priorities. We hope that the investment sector negotiations can be intensively negotiated and concluded through a series of virtual meetings this year. We look forward to swift, balanced, and long-term-oriented outcomes from the negotiations,” he said.

Minister Budi proposed establishing a joint business forum to connect business leaders from both nations. Meanwhile, Minister José welcomed collaboration opportunities in green technology, technical education, and pharmaceuticals.

“There needs to be a business-to-business (B2B) approach between Indonesian and Chilean business communities, for example through a business council. Interaction between Indonesian and Chilean business communities will further accelerate the growth of trade between the two countries,” he explained.

Additionally, Chile supports Indonesia’s accession to both the CPTPP and the OECD. In turn, Chile seeks Indonesia’s support for its own entry into the RCEP.

Total bilateral trade reached USD 226.2 million between January and May 2026. This figure gave Indonesia a trade surplus of USD 132.1 million against Chile.