Prabowo Learns from India’s Free Lunch Program Experience

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has completed a bilateral meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Hyderabad House, New Delhi on Saturday, January 25, 2025. One of the things discussed was India’s experience in implementing the free lunch program.

Narendra Modi admitted to sharing India‘s experience in providing free lunches for school children since 1995. The experiences shared range from the free meal scheme to the distribution system.

“India shares its experiences in the fields of health and food security, including the (free) lunch scheme and public (service) distribution system to the Indonesian Government,” said PM Modi as quoted from YouTube Narendra Modi, Saturday, January 25, 2025.

Responding to this, Prabowo said that he would study India’s experience in implementing the free meal program.

“We are sending technical teams, and we are currently running many programs that we think are good examples, and we want to learn from India’s experience,” said Prabowo.

During the meeting, the two leaders agreed to strengthen partnerships in various sectors, including trade, investment, tourism, energy, digital technology, artificial intelligence (AI), and infrastructure. Not only that, Prabowo also invited the Indian private sector to invest in infrastructure development in Indonesia.

“We are opening our economy to investment participation in infrastructure and we invite India to take part in Indonesia’s infrastructure program in all fields,” said the President.

In the defense sector, President Prabowo said that Indonesia has just ratified a defense cooperation agreement with India. Meanwhile, in the education sector, President Prabowo appreciated India’s support in increasing the number of Indonesian students in India and encouraging the opening of Indian educational institutions in Indonesia.

“We learned from your successful programs and sent our technical team to study them. Currently, we have implemented many of these programs in Indonesia,” said the President.

Prabowo visited India on January 23-26, 2025 for a state visit and to attend as the chief guest of India’s 76th Republic Day, Sunday, January 26, 2025.

Accompanying President Prabowo at the event were Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto, Minister of Foreign Affairs Sugiono, Minister of Culture Fadli Zon, Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Bahlil Lahadalia, Minister of Communication and Digital Meutya Hafid, Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya, and Indonesian Ambassador to New Delhi Ina Krisnamurthi.

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