Indonesia and Congo Agree on Defense and Military Collaboration

VIVA – The governments of Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo agree to collaborate in the defense and military sector. It covers plans for Congo's purchase of Indonesian-made defense equipment and the acceptance of cadets from Congo at the Indonesian military academy.

The commitment to establishing the collaboration was marked by the signing of a letter of intent (LoI) by Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto and Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo, at Bhinneka Tunggal Ika Hall at the Ministry of Defense’s office in Jakarta on Thursday.

"This is a historical moment and we look forward to future cooperation," Minister Subianto stated at a press conference after meeting with Minister Gombo.

Minister Subianto said that Indonesia welcomes cooperation with Congo, especially regarding the plan to purchase Indonesian-made defense equipment considering that the Congolese Defense Minister had visited PT Pindad and PT Dirgantara Indonesia in Bandung, West Java, on Thursday.

"The Deputy Prime Minister told us about his visit to Pindad and PT Dirgantara Indonesia in Bandung, and he was very interested in our products. This is a start for good cooperation, and for that, we are interested in continuing this collaboration," Minister Subianto explained. 

On the same occasion, Deputy Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo thanked Indonesia for the warm welcome.

Minister Gombo said that his country would like to send its cadets and special forces to study and train in Indonesia, "We are very interested in this new collaboration," he said. 

He considered it important for the Democratic Republic of Congo to learn about Indonesia's achievements, especially from the defense and military industries.