UK and Indonesia agree £4bn maritime deal at G20

From Johannesburg on Saturday 22 November 2025, Prime Minister Keir Starmer held a call with Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto. Downing Street’s readout says both leaders welcomed a new £4 billion UK–Indonesia maritime partnership and agreed to deepen ties, including on education and economic growth.

So what is this partnership? According to the government, it’s a Maritime Partnership Programme led by British firm Babcock: ships will be built in Indonesia using UK know‑how, supporting around 1,000 jobs in Rosyth, Bristol and Plymouth, while boosting the Indonesian Navy and more than 1,000 fishing vessels for food security. Reuters reports the value at about £4 billion and notes local build in Indonesia.

For students of industrial policy, this is a useful case study. Rather than exporting finished warships, the UK is exporting design, training and supply‑chain roles, while Indonesia invests in its own shipyards. The government says the programme includes technology transfer, joint research and skills links between British and Indonesian institutions. That mix aims to keep high‑value work in Britain while building capacity in Indonesia.

This deal draws on a year of groundwork. In November 2024 the UK and Indonesia set up a Strategic Partnership that flagged cooperation on fisheries, sustainable oceans and critical minerals, alongside maritime surveillance for Indonesia’s coast guard. Today’s plan fits with that agenda and the UK’s stated focus on Indo‑Pacific security and freedom of navigation.

The call also touched on Gaza. Downing Street said the Prime Minister welcomed Indonesia’s commitment to an International Stabilisation Force. Indonesia’s state news agency, Antara, has reported military readiness to contribute if there is a proper international mandate, and diplomats have been debating a draft UN Security Council resolution on such a force this month.

Here’s a media‑literacy note to share in class: a government readout is not a transcript. It tells you what one side wants emphasised. That’s why we pair it with independent reporting. Here, Reuters independently confirms the value and shape of the maritime deal; official UK papers set out the job and training claims in more detail.

On Ukraine, the Prime Minister told President Prabowo that partners must move faster to choke off Russian energy revenues. In practice, that has meant tighter enforcement against the so‑called ‘shadow fleet’ of oil tankers and lowering the G7/EU oil price cap-steps the UK and EU have pursued this year. These measures are designed to cut cash to the Kremlin without spiking global prices.

For the UK–Indonesia relationship, today’s call is about more than ships. It signals closer ties on education, research and training inside the maritime deal itself, and a broader agenda on trade and minerals. For Indonesia, it aligns with President Prabowo’s push for food security and a stronger domestic industrial base since taking office on 20 October 2024.

What this means for you if you’re teaching or studying this topic: follow the next steps. Watch for a formal contract announcement, details on financing and governance, and any UN mandate that would make a Gaza stabilisation mission lawful. Track whether promised UK jobs, training places and technology transfer materialise over time. These are testable claims.

A final detail to file away: the Prime Minister made the call from the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Johannesburg on 22–23 November 2025, where South Africa is hosting leaders on themes of solidarity, equality and sustainability. Moments like this show how world summits often double as backdrops for concrete bilateral deals.