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The Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to Indonesia Abdullah Salem Al-Dhaheri is exploring cooperation and investment opportunities in Southwest Papua Province.
"Our goal in coming to Southwest Papua is to build strong bilateral relations with Indonesia, particularly through this province," he stated in Sorong City, Southwest Papua, on Nov. 3, 2025.
Al-Dhaheri explained that the visit is the first step to review potential cooperation in various strategic sectors, such as tourism, agriculture, ports, and infrastructure. He believes that Southwest Papua has great potential for joint development, especially with the support of a regional government that is open to foreign investment.
Al-Dhaheri noted that Emirati investment in Indonesia has grown rapidly since the visit of Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan of Abu Dhabi, President of the UAE, in 2019.
"Previously, the focus was solely on the logistics, ports, as well as oil and gas sectors, but now it has expanded to include agriculture, education, industry, and even defense," he divulged.
Al-Dhaheri also touched on the increasing value of trade between the two countries, which reached US$1.9 billion in 2021 and is now targeted to increase to US$5 billion.
"For the initial stage, we want to directly assess the potential of Southwest Papua. After that, we are ready to move on to technical discussions to draft a cooperation agreement," he explained.
Al-Dhaheri also highlighted the success of several Emirati investment projects in Indonesia, such as in Aceh and Surakarta, covering the infrastructure, ports, and education sectors through the Alif Education institution—which currently serves more than 600 students.
"We hope the local government will accept this cooperation offer to support the development of infrastructure and mineral sectors in this region," He concluded.
Southwest Papua Governor Elisa Kambu welcomed the visit and the cooperation offer. He assessed that the UAE Ambassador's visit represents a crucial opportunity to accelerate economic development and strengthen Southwest Papua's position as a promising region in eastern Indonesia.
"Southwest Papua has a wealth of potential for development, particularly in the tourism, agriculture, and fisheries sectors. However, the authority for the petroleum and mineral sectors lies with the central government," he explained.
Kambu added that the Southwest Papua Provincial Government is ready to support concrete steps to strengthen bilateral relations with the UAE, including preparing comprehensive data and presentations for future follow-up meetings.
"We hope the meetings will not stop here, but will continue [with additional meetings] until concrete cooperation that benefits the people of Southwest Papua is realized," he said.
