Monday, 29 December 2025
II track 1.5 (2000 x 1000 px) (1)

The India-Indonesia Track 1.5 Dialogue: Innovation, Sustainability, and Multilateral Cooperation is a two-year initiative between Gateway House, Mumbai, and Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Indonesia, Jakarta to reflect the forward-thinking nature of the bilateral engagement and develop a strategic collaboration in the Indo-Pacific. Think tank experts, government officials, and business leaders will convene biennially to promote bilateral economic growth and innovation. 

India and Indonesia have a comprehensive strategic relationship built on their ancient and modern histories, and a flourishing relationship sustained by trade, economic exchange and people-to-people contact. Both countries are expanding and there are new areas to explore for mutual benefit. They prioritise defence and security, energy, and the Indo-Pacific region. The Track 1.5 Dialogue is a suitable format for this. The Dialogue aims to provide policy recommendations to promote innovation and navigate evolving governance issues through bilateral and multilateral cooperation.

India-Indonesia Track 1.5 Dialogue 2025

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The second part of the two-year India-Indonesia Track 1.5 Dialogue between Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations, India, and the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Indonesia, took place in Jakarta on September 15-16, 2025. Think tank experts, government officials, academics and business leaders convened for these two days to enhance bilateral relations, based on common multilateral and economic goals, innovation and education linkages.

The two countries share the same aspirations and outlook but have been at a distance in the modern era. The shared culture of friendship, equality, and justice described by Rabindranath Tagore as ‘companion souls’ during his visit to Indonesia in 1927 and exchange with Indonesian educator Ki Hadjar Dewantara, was cemented by Biju Patnaik’s daring rescue of Vice-President Mohammad Hatta and Prime Minister Sutan Sjahrir in support of Indonesia’s independence movement. It was elevated by the Bandung Principles in 1955. But absorbed with their own development over the years, the relationship has become transactional. This must now be advanced and transformed.

To determine which values of the past to preserve, which to reform, and which to rebuild in the changing global dynamic, it is necessary for India and Indonesia to gain a better understanding and foster a willingness to learn from each other.

India-Indonesia Track 1.5 Dialogue 2024

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On 23-24 September Gateway House and CSIS Indonesia, co-hosted the first-ever India-Indonesia Track 1.5 Dialogue, in partnership with the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia, through the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in New Delhi; supported by Government of Maharashtra, India, along with Indorama and Sinarmas, Indonesia.

The two-day event focused on transforming India and Indonesia from the “companion souls” of Rabindranath Tagore’s 1927 journey to the geopolitical, geostrategic and geoeconomic partners of today, assisting each to expand their space on the global stage as the largest and third largest democracies. The thematic sessions were chosen to reflect the strengths of both countries and the technical collaborations
that can be effectively leveraged

The roundtable discussion was held in-person in Mumbai. Government officials, corporations, entrepreneurs and leading scholars and experts from both India and Indonesia participated in the dialogue.

The dialogue was opened by Ashish Kumar Sinha, Joint Secretary (South), Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India; Y. Jatmiko Heru Prasetyo, Director for South and Central Asian Affairs, Directorate General of Asia-Pacific and African Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Indonesia; Sandeep Chakravorty, Ambassador, Embassy of the Republic of India in Jakarta and Ina H. Krisnamurthi, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in New Delhi.

Gateway House publications on India-Indonesia relations