Indonesia hosted a three-day Indonesia-Africa Forum in Bali this week to boost trade ties with Africa.
Despite efforts to attract a large turnout, many African countries chose to attend a separate forum in China.
While the forum did result in some business deals, it was a symbolic setback for Indonesia.
Christophe Dorigne-Thomson, a foreign affairs academic based in Jakarta said “But symbolically, for sure, the choice was made for China,” in an interview with VOA.
The country hoped to leverage its historical relationship with Africa, dating back to the 1955 Bandung Conference.
However, the growing influence of China in Africa, coupled with geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China, has made it difficult for Indonesia to compete for African attention.
Indonesia’s National Research and Innovation Agency researcher Dewi Fortuna Anwar tracked the deals at the summit.
“There seem to be some concrete … letters of intent, like Indonesia’s aircraft industry signing deals with several countries and the oil companies also signing deals,” Anwar said.
Despite these challenges, Indonesia remains committed to strengthening its ties with Africa and is seeking new ways to position itself on the global stage.