A press statement published by the Presidential Secretariat said that during the pilgrimage, Prabowo took the time to pray inside the Kaaba, the holiest site in Islam, and got the chance to kiss the Black Stone, also known as Hajar Aswad. 

On Thursday, Prabowo posted on social media platform Instagram a number of photos of him, joined by a number of cabinet ministers including Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya and Coordinating Minister for Food Zulkifli Hasan, performing the minor haj rituals inside and around the Kaaba.

"After holding a bilateral meeting with the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the President left for Mecca to perform umrah with a number of ministers [...] the President also took the time to greet pilgrims from Indonesia," Prabowo’s official handle, @presidenrepublikindonesia, stated.

Prabowo is on a three-day working visit to Saudi Arabia with a focus mostly on finding ways to improve haj services for Indonesia pilgrims.

Following a bilateral talk between Prabowo and MBS, officials from both countries announced that the two countries had signed several deals and memorandums of understanding worth around US$27 billion between private sector institutions in fields including clean energy and petrochemicals.

The two sides also agreed to bolster cooperation in the supply of crude oil and its derivatives, improve supply chains and their sustainability in the energy field and strengthen cooperation in mineral resources, the Saudi state news agency said.

Trade between the two countries amounted to around $31.5 billion in the last five years, according to Saudi state news agency SPA.

Popular

What Indonesia can learn from the Iran–Israel war

US, Colombia recall top diplomats as rift deepens

Analysis: Indonesia’s competitiveness ranking falls amid weakening fundamentals