Guwahati: India and Indonesia have agreed to jointly develop the strategically located Sabang Port, a move expected to significantly strengthen India’s maritime presence in the eastern Indian Ocean and reinforce its Indo-Pacific strategy.
The agreement was announced during Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s visit to Indonesia, where both countries signed a series of strategic agreements covering defence, maritime cooperation, critical minerals, digital technology and trade. Among them, the Sabang Port project has emerged as one of the most geopolitically significant initiatives.
Situated on Indonesia’s Weh Island in Aceh province, Sabang lies at the northern entrance of the Strait of Malacca, one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes through which a substantial portion of global trade and energy supplies passes. The port is located roughly 160 km (100 miles) from India’s Great Nicobar Island, where New Delhi is developing a major transshipment and military logistics hub.
Strategic affairs experts believe that simultaneous development of Great Nicobar and Sabang would provide India with a strategic presence on both sides of the northern approach to the Malacca Strait. Such a positioning is expected to improve maritime surveillance, strengthen logistics for naval deployments and enhance India’s ability to respond to regional security challenges.
The project also aligns with India’s broader objective of expanding its engagement with Southeast Asia under its Act East Policy while supporting a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific. Closer cooperation with Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy, is also expected to improve coordination on maritime security and regional connectivity.
Although India and Indonesia had earlier discussed cooperation at Sabang, the latest agreement gives fresh momentum to the long-pending project. Once operational, the port is expected to support commercial shipping, facilitate naval visits, and improve connectivity between the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Indonesia’s Aceh province.
The Sabang initiative formed part of a wider package of agreements signed during Modi’s visit. The two countries also deepened defence cooperation through missile agreements involving the BrahMos cruise missile and Astra air-to-air missile, while signing partnerships in critical minerals, artificial intelligence, digital payments, agriculture and education.