By : Timothy Peilouw )*
After the successful holding of the G20 Summit, Indonesia has resumed international leadership by holding the ASEAN 2023 chairmanship. The chairmanship was handed over from Cambodia to Indonesia at the 41st ASEAN Summit in Phnom Penh in November 2022.
The President of the Republic of Indonesia Joko Widodo (Jokowi) ensured that Indonesia, which assumes the Chair of ASEAN 2023, will make every effort so that the forum of countries in the Southeast Asian region can contribute and provide positive solutions to the current challenging global situation, especially in the economic sector.
According to him, the ASEAN chairmanship held by Indonesia this year is amidst a challenging global situation. President Jokowi considers that ASEAN is still important and relevant to the people, the region and the world. ASEAN will continue to contribute to peace and stability in the Indo Pacific and will continue to be able to maintain economic growth and in accordance with the theme being carried, namely “ASEAN Matters: Epicentrum of Growth”.
For information, Indonesia has run the ASEAN 2023 Chair since early January 2023 and will last until the end of December 2023. A series of meetings have been scheduled, including two summits namely the ASEAN Summit in May 2023 in Labuan Bajo, East Nusa Tenggara Province (NTT). and the ASEAN Plus Summit in Jakarta in September 2023.
Through the big theme “ASEAN Matters: Epicentrum of Growth”, Indonesia as chairman and host is expected to be able to bring up new ideas and initiatives in overcoming challenges and other crucial issues of concern in the ASEAN region and the world.
For information, there are two major elements in the theme raised by Indonesia. The first element is “ASEAN Matters”, namely how Indonesia and its chairmanship continue to make ASEAN relevant and important not only for the people of Indonesia, but also for the people of ASEAN and beyond .
Through this theme, Indonesia wants ASEAN to continue to play a central role and become a driving force for regional stability and peace. The second element is the “Epicentrum of Growth”, Indonesia wants to further capitalize on ASEAN’s economic growth which is always higher than world growth.
The ASEAN economy is projected to grow 4.7 percent in 2023 according to the ADB, while world economic growth is estimated at 1.7 percent according to the World Bank. President Jokowi wants this to become an asset that continues to be improved, so that ASEAN can still become the epicenter of growth or the center of economic growth.
In 2023, Indonesia’s growth rate is likely to be one of the strongest among ASEAN-6 countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam), together with the Philippines and Vietnam. This growth was also supported by the government’s industrial downstream program. Reflecting on when Indonesia was still exporting nickel ore, Indonesia received US$1.1 billion or around Rp.17 trillion. Since switching to refined nickel products, Indonesia has benefited by US$33 billion or Rp450 trillion.
After Indonesia’s success in holding the G20 Summit in Bali in 2022, which earned an investment of IDR 125 trillion, the ASEAN Summit should also have a positive impact on Indonesia’s economic growth.
Indonesia’s chairmanship in 2023 is also expected to be able to bring ASEAN into a regional organization that is resilient and remains relevant in facing various international challenges and problems for the next 20 years. More importantly, Indonesia is also expected to bring ASEAN down, down to earth and provide benefits to its people.
In terms of readiness, the Government itself has ensured that the 42nd ASEAN Summit is ready to be held in Labuan Bajo. This can be seen from all forms of preparation that have been made optimally both in terms of security, health and safety, infrastructure, and various other things. Not only that, the Government is also participating in preparing all forms of documents that will be produced at the ASEAN Summit. Currently, the process is still in the negotiation stage at the senior official level (SOM/Senior Officials Meeting).
The readiness to hold the ASEAN Summit was not only recognized by the Government of Indonesia, but also by foreign delegates. Elisabeth Maria Mersin as head of the special team formed by West Manggarai Regent Edistasius Endi, emphasized that a number of delegation teams sent by each ASEAN country to check the location of the ASEAN Summit, stated that Labuan Bajo was ready to hold this international event.
For this reason, all elements of society are encouraged to support Indonesia’s chairmanship for ASEAN by participating in upholding the value 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 ideals of realizing ASEAN which is resilient to 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 a student from Kupang, NTT