In this episode, I talked to Rocky Intan, a Researcher at the Department of International Relations at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Jakarta. We discussed about one of Indonesia’s foreign policy priorities, economic diplomacy. Rocky wrote in 2019 that Indonesia needs to recalibrate its conception of economic diplomacy, does he still think the same way?

Moreover, what President Jokowi instructed to Indonesia’s envoys are most likely referred to as commercial diplomacy than economic diplomacy. What is the difference? President Jokowi’s administration is also often associated with protectionism policy with many domestic considerations and narratives like “stand on its own feet”, “hate foreign products”, etc. Is Indonesia trapped in a paradox between liberalising its markets to foreign partners and protecting domestic products? What are the main challenges for Indonesia’s economic diplomacy so far?

I explored those questions during this podcast interview. Check it out on Spotify, Google Podcast and Apple Podcast.