Jakarta – The Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin Indonesia), in collaboration with the Thai Chamber of Commerce Indonesia (TCCI), hosted the Indonesia–Thailand Business Forum at the Fairmont Hotel in Central Jakarta on Tuesday (4 August 2026), coinciding with the official visit of H.E. Anutin Charnvirakul, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand, to Indonesia.

Held under the theme "Advancing the Indonesia–Thailand Strategic Partnership: Building Integrated Value Chains in Industry, Services, and the Halal Economy," the forum brought together government representatives, business leaders, industry associations, and companies from both countries to identify concrete opportunities for bilateral trade, investment, and industrial cooperation.

The forum serves as a follow-up to the elevation of Indonesia–Thailand relations to a Strategic Partnership in May 2025. Bilateral trade between the two countries reached US$17.67 billion in 2025. During the same year, Thai investment realization in Indonesia totaled US$525.6 million, while Indonesian investment in Thailand reached US$101.81 million, covering sectors such as manufacturing, energy, agriculture, food processing, logistics, banking, and transportation.

Kadin Indonesia Chairman Anindya Novyan Bakrie said the forum aims to elevate bilateral business relations from broad cooperation to tangible implementation.

"Indonesia and Thailand possess complementary economic strengths. Our priority now is to translate these strengths into joint investments, stronger supply networks, integrated production, and commercial partnerships that create added value for both countries," said Anindya, who is widely known as Anin.

Poj Aramwattananont, Chairman of the Board of Trade of Thailand, said closer cooperation between Kadin Indonesia and the Thai Chamber of Commerce would serve as a key foundation for boosting investment, creating new business opportunities, and fostering sustainable economic growth across ASEAN.

"As global supply chains continue to evolve, Thailand and Indonesia have a unique opportunity to build stronger regional value chains by connecting our complementary strengths. Through closer cooperation between Kadin Indonesia and the Thai Chamber of Commerce, we can transform partnership into investment, business opportunities, and sustainable growth for ASEAN," said Poj Aramwattananont.

The forum also featured the exchange of two Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs), witnessed by H.E. Anutin Charnvirakul, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand.

The first MoU was signed between Kadin Indonesia, represented by Chairman Anindya Novyan Bakrie, and the Board of Trade of Thailand, represented by Poj Aramwattananont, on Carbon Market Cooperation. The agreement builds upon the MoU on Trade and Investment Cooperation signed by the two chambers in Bangkok on 19 May 2025. The earlier agreement established a framework for promoting trade and investment, exchanging business information, supporting participation in trade fairs and conferences, and facilitating bilateral business missions.

The new MoU expands the scope of cooperation to include the carbon market sector, covering policy and regulatory dialogue, the development of standards and measurement systems, identification of investment-ready carbon projects, business matching, investment mobilization, and the enhancement of carbon market interoperability across ASEAN.

The second MoU was signed between Kadin Indonesia, represented by Chairman Anindya Novyan Bakrie, and the Thai Chamber of Commerce Indonesia (TCCI), represented by TCCI President Pathama Sirikul, on the establishment of the Thailand Business Ecosystem–Indonesia (TBES-Indonesia). The framework is designed to connect businesses, government agencies, financial institutions, industry associations, academia, professional service providers, and investors to strengthen cooperation in trade and investment, the halal economy, sustainability and innovation, as well as human capital development.

On the same occasion, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) further reinforced its commitment to enhancing tourism cooperation between Thailand and Indonesia by signing two separate MoUs with TransNusa Airlines and Traveloka.

Following the opening session, the forum continued with three panel discussions focusing on key sectors of Indonesia–Thailand economic cooperation.

The first panel, "Scaling the Halal Economy: Standards, Innovation, and Global Market Access," explored opportunities for collaboration in halal food and beverages, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, tourism, logistics, halal certification, and Islamic finance.

The second panel, "Building Integrated Industrial Value Chains: From Resources to Downstreaming Advanced Manufacturing," examined how Indonesia's abundant natural resources, large domestic market, and downstream industrialization strategy could be integrated with Thailand's strengths in manufacturing, automotive, electronics, food processing, and regional distribution networks.

Meanwhile, the third panel, "Connecting Services for Regional Growth: Digital, Logistics, Tourism, and Finance," discussed how stronger connectivity across the services sector could support trade, investment, business expansion, and greater efficiency in regional supply chains.

As a follow-up to the chamber-to-chamber cooperation framework agreed upon in 2025, as well as the two MoUs exchanged during the forum, Kadin Indonesia and the Thai Chamber of Commerce will work closely with strategic partners to implement a range of initiatives across priority sectors, including advanced manufacturing, electric vehicles, energy, agrifood, digital services, logistics, tourism, financial services, and the halal economy.

Both organizations also committed to promoting business matching, investment facilitation, the establishment of sectoral working groups, trade missions, investment project showcases, and policy dialogue. Through this forum, Kadin Indonesia and the Thai Chamber of Commerce aim to strengthen private sector engagement between the two countries while supporting the development of a more integrated and resilient ASEAN regional value chain.