Indonesia has officially joined the Brics group, adding Southeast Asia's largest economy and most populous country to the economic and political bloc founded by Brazil, Russia, India and China in 2009.
The move bolsters the international alliance, seen as a counterpart to the G7 group, and also marks the latest chapter in Indonesia's bid to become a more influential player on the world stage.
In 2023 the then president of Indonesia Joko Widodo refused to join Brics, saying the government was still mulling its options and did not want to "rush into it". But Prabowo Subianto, who succeeded him last year, "has no such concerns", said DW.
"As a middle power", being a member of Brics offers Indonesia "leverage in the global order", said Teuku Rezasyah, an international relations expert from Padjadjaran University in West Java. And with the US "veering towards unilateralism" under the incoming Trump administration, the move will "bolster" Indonesia's "multilateral credentials", said Alexander Raymond Arifianto, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.
Two other developments could significantly help the nation's economy and global standing in the years to come. Indonesia now produces nearly half of the world’s refined nickel and two-thirds of its mined nickel, said The Economist.
As its market share has grown, "so too has the grandeur of its politicians' ambitions", and they plan to build a complete electric vehicle supply chain, something only China has managed to do thus far.
This vision underpins Prabowo's "ambitious target" for Indonesia’s GDP to grow by 8% each year. | 
