By: Lucky Pratama )*
The 43rd ASEAN Summit which will be held on 5-7 September 2023 in Jakarta will discuss the development and strengthening of ASEAN cooperation with external partners. Apart from that, ASEAN solidity and regional stability are also important to face global challenges and realize ASEAN as the engine of peace and the epicenter of growth.
President Jokowi hopes that all matters related to the Summit will be ready at the time it is held. All ASEAN members are also encouraged to reaffirm their determination to make Southeast Asia a peaceful and prosperous region.
Indonesia’s chairmanship at the 43rd ASEAN Summit is expected to produce concrete formulations at the level of implementation and operationalization of the ASEAN Outlook on Indo-Pacific (AOIP), considering that the Indo-Pacific is a very strategic region.
So that the resulting formulation can be comprehensive in nature from security, economic and development approaches so that creative economic activity, digital business and investment economy, and infrastructure and others can support sustainable development.
Even though the current global dynamics are not easy, the President believes ASEAN will be able to overcome these challenges. The demographic bonus and the world’s trust in ASEAN as the region with the best economic opportunities today are ASEAN’s strong assets to become the epicenter of economic growth. For this reason, the President encouraged that this momentum be put to good use.
Indonesia’s chairmanship at the Summit is also expected to be able to drive the wheel of the national economy in various cities where the 2023 ASEAN Summit series of side events will be held as well as being a momentum to show Indonesia’s economic progress which continues to grow and is resilient amidst a storm of crisis so that Indonesia deserves to be a business area that can attract foreign investment.
Getting the mandate to hold the Chair of ASEAN 2023 is a very good opportunity to support the rise of the tourism sector and Indonesia’s creative economy broadly. Especially in introducing and promoting all tourism potential with abundant natural and cultural wealth.
Going forward, the results of each side event and ASEAN Summit during Indonesia’s chairmanship in ASEAN are expected to help achieve the target of 8.5 million foreign tourist visits and create 4.4 million jobs in 2024.
We should use this positive momentum to make ASEAN the future of the world, to make ASEAN the anchor of peace, stability, and world prosperity.
Indonesia is expected to be able to bring an agenda to resume negotiations on the establishment of a code of conduct (CoC) for parties to disputes in the South China Sea. The establishment of the CoC is a mandate from the Declaration of Conduct (DoC) which was agreed upon by ASEAN and China at the ASEAN Summit in Phnom Penh in 2002.
For Indonesia, the holding of the series of ASEAN Summits increasingly shows that this nation has a strategic role in leading the regional architecture that can concretely provide benefits to the regional and global community and make the ASEAN region the world’s engine of sustainable growth.
But the most important thing in this case is that the media is expected to be able to disseminate the benefits of the 43rd ASEAN Summit to the public properly, so that people can understand, understand and benefit from the ASEAN Summit. Through reporting, it is hoped that information on all the pillars on the agenda of the government and ASEAN will be well received by the public.
There are a number of benefits from ASEAN chairmanship for Indonesia, both in the economic field and at the regional and global levels. In the economic field, the ASEAN Summit will drive the wheels of the national economy in a number of cities in Indonesia, become a momentum to show Indonesia’s development progress, and become an attraction for foreign investment to the country.
Regionally and globally, there is an increase (recognition) by the world for Indonesia’s ability to lead the regional architecture through the management of intra-ASEAN economic cooperation and regional partners. Meanwhile, the benefits at the regional level are preparing the ASEAN community in strengthening economic recovery and making Southeast Asia a driver of sustainable world growth.
We are obliged to support Indonesia’s chairmanship for ASEAN by upholding the values of solidarity with a spirit of optimism and cooperation, by building multi-stakeholder collaborative governance to ensure the success of the 2023 ASEAN Summit from a technical and substance standpoint so that the goal is to create an ASEAN that is resilient against various crisis upheavals as well as ASEAN which is able to bring benefits to the people of Southeast Asia and the world can be realized.
)* The author is an observer of social issues and the creative economy
