Indonesian president emphasizes energy and food key to national sovereignty

A national sovereignty is highly dependent on a country’s ability to meet its own food and energy needs, according to Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto.

 

Tangerang, Banten (Indonesia Window) – Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto emphasized that a national sovereignty is highly dependent on a country’s ability to meet its own food and energy needs.

The president made the remark when opening the 49th Annual Convention and Exhibition of the Indonesian Petroleum Association (IPA Convex) held at the Nusantara Hall, the Indonesian Convention Ceter in Indonesia’s Tangerang city, Banten province on Wednesday, May 21, 2025.

“A national sovereignty is guaranteed by the nation’s ability to meet food for its own people, and secondly, the nation’s ability to meet its own energy needs. The survival of our nation, the survival of nations depends on these two things,” the Indonesian Cabinet Secretariat quoted the Head of State as saying.

Therefore, President Prabowo expressed his appreciation for the achievements in the food and energy sectors in the first six months of his government.

The president highlighted national food production that has exceeded the target and recorded the largest rice and corn reserves during the course of the Indonesian history.

in Indonesian history.

“In the course of the history of the Republic of Indonesia, the rice and corn reserves in government warehouses are the largest in the history of the Republic of Indonesia. Even a while ago, we were worried that the warehouses would not be enough to accommodate the production, so I ordered the construction of improvised warehouses,” he said.

In the energy sector, President Prabowo has also inaugurated the initial production of the Forel and Terubuk Fields in Natuna district in Indonesia’s Riau Islands province, which produce an additional 20 thousand barrels of oil and 60 million standard cubic feet of gas per day. In fact, the project was carried out entirely by the nation’s workforce.

“This is not only a mathematical achievement, not a technical achievement, but a very important milestone in our continuous efforts to achieve national energy self-sufficiency,” the president said.

This was achieved through policies that are oriented towards the interests of the people, he said, while mentioning that steps based on common sense and siding with national interests are expected to produce real results in a short time.

“If we continue to depend on imports, we would spend a lot of our resources. Almost 40 billion US dollars every year, which could actually be, and should be used to help our people in strategic areas,” the president pointed out.

President Prabowo also encouraged synergy among the private sector, state-owned enterprises, and the government in managing national energy potential, including new and renewable energy.

The Head of State emphasized the importance of cross-sector cooperation to reduce dependence on imported energy.

“Let us work together, make collaboration among the domestic private sector, foreign private parties, state-owned enterprises, government parties at all levels. Let us all work together, together to achieve the goals that we must achieve,” the president said.

Reporting by Indonesia Window