The Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada (APF Canada) was honoured to welcome Indonesia’s Ambassador to Canada, H.E. Muhsin Syihab, on November 24, 2025, for the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Foreign Policy Strategy Agency (FPSA), a Jakarta-based think-tank affiliated with Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The MoU was signed between APF Canada’s President and CEO, Jeff Nankivell, and Muhammad Takdir, the head of the FPSA, an agency under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Indonesia, at the Foundation’s head office in Vancouver, Canada. Ambassador Syihab and Consul General of Indonesia in Vancouver, Nina Kurnia Widhi, witnessed the signing on behalf of the FPSA. The agreement opens a new chapter in collaboration between APF Canada and the FPSA, which provides policy recommendations to support Indonesia’s foreign relations.
The MoU builds on the positive momentum in Canada-Indonesia bilateral relations following Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s visit to Ottawa on September 24, 2025, at the invitation of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, the first meeting of the countries’ leaders in Ottawa in 25 years.
In Ottawa, President Subianto and Prime Minister Carney signed the Indonesia-Canada Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (ICA-CEPA), a transformative trade agreement that will serve as a platform to strengthen trade and investment ties, expand business opportunities, and foster co-operation in key areas, including food security, critical minerals, renewable energy, and the digital economy. The ICA-CEPA is Canada’s first-ever bilateral trade agreement with an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) economy. During their meeting, the two leaders also signed a new Defence Co-operation Agreement, building on the Military Co-operation Memorandum of Understanding signed in August, welcomed a new Market Leader Partnership Agreement between Export Development Canada and the Indonesia Investment Authority and an agreement between the Business Council of Canada and Kadin, Indonesia’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and underscored the importance of building more ambitious and targeted co-operation between organizations and institutions in both countries.
“This MoU is very timely. It will contribute to the implementation of our two Leaders’ directives on people-to-people connections, as it opens opportunities for our experts in foreign policy strategy to connect, exchange views, and work together on shared priorities,” said Ambassador Muhsin Syihab.
Added APF Canada President and CEO Jeff Nankivell: “APF Canada welcomes this new partnership with the Foreign Policy Strategy Agency, which is well known for its work actively engaging with international partners, including research institutions, to gather input for Indonesia’s policy development. As we face shared and unprecedented challenges in today’s global economy, it is more important than ever that organizations like ours collaborate to advance research-based policy dialogue while promoting trade, investment, geo-strategic, and educational co-operation that will collectively contribute to our future security and prosperity.”
“We at the Consulate General of Indonesia in Vancouver stand ready to support the implementation of this timely MoU,” said Consul General Nina Kurnia.
The new FPSA-APF Canada MoU establishes a “partnership in conducting foreign policy analysis and strategy,” with areas of co-operation that include:
- Exchange of information and knowledge, as well as best practices in the field of international relations and issues of mutual interest
- Organizing policy dialogue and consultations
- Capacity development in policy analysis and strategy, including trainings, workshops, seminars, dissemination of ideas, public lectures, and discussions
- Learning and implementing scientific analysis on international relations issues, including but not limited to the publication of study and survey results
