Opening the implementation of the 43rd ASEAN Summit (Summit) in Jakarta, the Indonesian chairman this time continues to call for world peace which must be jointly achieved and pursued. Because with this, it will be able to lead to a big vision, namely the realization of the Epicentrum of Growth.
Director General (Dirjen) of ASEAN Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Kemenlu RI) Sidharto R. Suryodipuro emphasized that the big theme upheld at the 43rd ASEAN Summit, namely ‘ASEAN Matters: Epicentrum of Grwoth’ was not just mere rhetoric.
With this big theme, it is also a way for all regional countries to be able to invite all their partners. Not only to invite, but also to continue to remind the world to continue to be a contributor and also be able to participate or be active in maintaining the continuity of the Association of Asian Nations (ASEAN) as the Epicentrum of Growth or growth center for the world because later it will also mutually benefit all parties .
It is known that in 2023, Indonesia will again serve as Chair of ASEAN by raising this big theme, which means that all parties, especially Indonesia as Chair, will continue to encourage and make ASEAN member countries themselves continue to be relevant and important for the world community.
The vision of Indonesia’s chairmanship for ASEAN 2023 is indeed aimed at the ability to carry out development of all countries in the region by continuing to pay attention to resilience, adaptability, inclusiveness so that they are able to play a central role and are also able to bring many benefits.
Meanwhile, in his opening speech at the 43rd ASEAN High Level Conference (KTT) which was held in Jakarta, the President of the Republic of Indonesia (RI) Joko Widodo (Jokowi) said that the efforts of all parties, especially countries in the ASEAN region, including all other countries in The world must continue to be based on cooperation framed by equality. This aims to achieve progress together.
The reason is, it is absolutely undeniable that the current world condition is full of uncertainty and turmoil continues to be a challenge that all parties should be able to overcome jointly. Therefore, if in overcoming this, for example ASEAN does it alone, of course it will not be possible and will certainly be very difficult.
So it’s not surprising that countries in the ASEAN region continue to invite all other countries in the world to provide maximum support to achieve common goals. Because with well-established cooperation, especially if it upholds equality, it is clear that the dream of reaching the epicentrum of growth as the big theme of Indonesia’s chairmanship at the 43rd ASEAN Summit will become a reality.
Even in the midst of the many world turmoils that have continued to this day, the Head of State still emphasized how strong ASEAN’s position is. Because all ASEAN member countries do not want rivalry at all, because if that continues to happen, it will certainly be able to bring many other bad impacts.
Moreover, the initial goal of forming the association of nations in the Southeast Asian region was to be able to establish good cooperation, so that in the future this cooperation would be able to create prosperity, stability and peace for the world.
The Seventh President of the Republic of Indonesia also emphasized to the whole world not to make ASEAN’s large ships an arena for rivalries that occur from the struggle for influence from the world’s great powers. Therefore, on this occasion, representing all countries in ASEAN, President Jokowi also emphasized that ASEAN would never side with any power as their proxy.
Even though they do not take sides with any proxies, the countries in ASEAN continue to encourage the opening of cooperation with all parties in the world in a very open and wide-reaching manner because the ultimate goal is to jointly create peace and prosperity for the world.
To be able to achieve this, there is one important point that we should be able to realize and uphold together, namely the spirit of equality for all countries in this cooperation. Equality itself does not mean that all parties are only allowed to have one opinion, on the contrary, with equality, differences of opinion are a normal thing.
When differences of opinion occur, a middle way solution will also be sought together to reach a resolution of an issue. So precisely with these differences, they will be able to complement each other, and lead to a big vision, namely the realization of the Epicentrum of Growth.