A U.S.-Indonesia Partnership for 2020

Indonesia and the United States share an important opportunity to broaden and deepen their ties in the next several years. In November 2010, U.S. president Barack Obama and Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono confirmed their goal of strengthening the bilateral relationship by establishing the U.S.-Indonesia Comprehensive Partnership. The agreement promotes a long-term commitment to building bilateral relations through three main pillars: political and security; economic and development; and socio-cultural, education, science, and technology cooperation.

A U.S.-Indonesia Partnership for 2020 explores avenues to boost cooperation in all three of these pillars. Political and security relations between the United States and Indonesia have grown more robust in recent years. Trade and economic relations, while growing, remain contentious. This study assesses progress on these two pillars, along with the under-resourced field of people-to-people collaboration, and offers recommendations to take the partnership to the next level in each area.