JAKARTA– Indonesia pledged to make ASEAN a motor of peace and stability, and also an epicentre of economic growth, said Indonesian Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, when meeting with her Malaysian counterpart Zambry Abdul Kadir yesterday.

Indonesia will start its Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) chairmanship for 2023, after completing its task of the Group of 20 presidency, which experts said was held amid unstable global political conditions, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, energy issues and global economic downturn.

Marsudi said in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, last month, during the chairmanship transfer that, 2023 would not likely be a safe year for the world just yet, especially for ASEAN.

“The world is still experiencing multi-dimensional challenges. The geopolitical and economic challenges could be more dynamic next year, so let’s keep holding talks with positive energy and with the spirit of economic cooperation,” she said.

Indonesian President, Joko Widodo, also emphasised equal and mutually beneficial partnerships during the ASEAN-European Union Summit, held in Brussels in mid-Dec.

Southeast Asia has become an economic powerhouse for the last few decades, he said, adding that, the region will remain a centre of growth.

“The partnership with ASEAN will certainly be profitable,” he said.

“We learned important lessons from the pandemic and multi-dimensional crises we are facing now, that, growing and prospering together is the only option,” he said.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK