Irwansyah Mukhlis, minister counselor of the Indonesian Embassy in Beijing Photo: Yin Yeping/GT

Indonesia has maintained very close cooperation with China across a wide range of areas, from traditional sectors such as infrastructure to emerging fields like big data management, green transformation, and finance, where the two countries share strong complementarities and vast potential for deeper collaboration, an Indonesian envoy told the Global Times at the ongoing Annual Conference of Financial Street Forum 2025.

The annual event, a major financial gathering held in Beijing from Monday to Thursday, has garnered hundreds of domestic and international participants to discuss key issues and explore opportunities for cooperation.

Speaking to the Global Times at the forum, Irwansyah Mukhlis, minister counselor of the Indonesian Embassy in Beijing, participated in the forum for the first time and said he was already impressed with the number of participants and topics being discussed, which he described as "very informative and a lot can be learned."

"I think more countries should be taking part in this (forum), because there are a lot of really good practices that can be shared from China to other countries worldwide," Mukhlis said.

One of the most impressive topics for Mukhlis at the forum was data management and the use of big data for financial transactions, which is something Indonesia could learn from, he said. He also noted that the importance of global financial governance is an area where Indonesia and China could cooperate.

Indonesia-China cooperation spans almost all aspects, with the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed train—the flagship project that shortened the trip between the two major cities—being a good example of close collaboration. Moreover, Mukhlis said that bilateral cooperation has been, and should continue to be, much broader than that.

Green areas are one of these fields that the two sides can further explore, he said. "Indonesia has an ambitious agenda for renewable energy and green transition, and one of the main focuses is solar panel cooperation with China. We are now working to define where to allocate this cooperation and resources so that they further align with Indonesia's national energy agenda," he added.

While the world is facing a rising trend of unilateralism and protectionism, the Indonesian envoy also emphasized the importance of countries remaining open to cooperation.

"Since the beginning, Indonesia has always been a vindication of multilateralism and non-alignment. Having said that most countries are now cooperating bilaterally or multilaterally, including China and Indonesia," Mukhlis said.

That said, Mukhlis noted that unilateralism is "something we need to cope with... But countries like Indonesia and China have managed it well, proving that cooperation leads to win-win outcomes and represents the best way forward," he said.