JAKARTA — The Association of Indian Ocean Coastal Countries (IORA) and the Pacific Island Forum (PIF) have officially collaborated with ASEAN to continue to maintain peace and prosperity in all countries in the region.
This collaboration was marked by the signing of an ASEAN MoU with IORA and PIF together with Cook Islands Prime Minister (PM) Mark Brown.
Regarding this, Minister of Foreign Affairs (Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs) Retno Marsudi stated that countries in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific are indeed an inseparable part of the Indo-Pacific region.
Therefore, all parties must work together to maintain peace, stability and prosperity.
The reason is, whatever happens in the region will certainly have an impact on all parties, so to be able to go far, it should be done together.
“Whatever happens in this region will affect all of us. You must remember, if you want to go fast, go alone. But if you want to go far, go together. “I’m sure we all want to go far,” said Foreign Minister Retno.
There are several priority sectors in this cooperation, some of which are in the maritime sector, inter-regional connectivity, sustainable development, blue economy, green economy, digital economy and disaster mitigation management.
Then each country also binds cooperation in the form of a Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC).
It is hoped that this collaboration will be able to contribute to strength, solidarity and even closer relations.
The signing of the TAC itself must also be guided by several basic principles such as mutual respect for independence, sovereignty, equality, territorial integrity and national identity of all nations.
The parties must also respect the requirement of each country to maintain their national standing free from interference, attack or coercion from outside parties and resolve differences or disputes in a peaceful manner.
“Over the years, TAC has played an important role as a collective norm and principle to encourage good relations, habits of dialogue and peaceful coexistence in the region,” explained Foreign Minister Retno.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday (6/9) the 43rd ASEAN Summit gala dinner was also held which was located in the City Forest by Plataran Jakarta.
Chef Arnold revealed the inspiration for serving medu at the Gala Dinner.
He explained that the inspiration for the theme of the dinner event with ASEAN officials was ‘Nusantara The Forest’.
“So to get inspiration, we already have a theme, Nusantara The Forest,” he explained.
“But we provide inspiration for each dish for each team to provide the menu,” said Chef Arnold.