West Manggarai – Indonesia and ASEAN countries share the same view of optimizing the role of the oceans as one of the sectors driving growth with the concept of the Blue Economy or Blue Economy.
Deputy for International Economic Cooperation at the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs, Edi Prio Pambudi explained, in recognition of the importance of the Blue Economy for the region, ASEAN leaders agreed to the 38th ASEAN Summit meeting in 2021 to adopt the Blue Economy Declaration.
He also said that Indonesia’s chairmanship at the 2023 ASEAN Summit had raised the ASEAN Blue Economy Framework as one of the top priorities in the economic sector.
The framework, according to him, aims to support sustainable economic development in the region and support the ASEAN Economic Community sustainability initiatives.
Furthermore, Edi assesses that this framework will strengthen ASEAN’s commitment to lead regional cooperation on the Blue Economy which focuses on value creation, inclusivity and sustainability as the main elements.
“This framework will also strengthen ASEAN’s commitment to lead regional cooperation on the Blue Economy which focuses on value creation, inclusiveness and sustainability as key elements. The development of the ASEAN Blue Economy Framework is also considered to be aligned with the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP) which was agreed in 2019,” he explained.
In the same vein, the Deputy for Economic Affairs of the Ministry of National Development Planning (Bappenas), Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti emphasized that Indonesia needs high economic growth in a sustainable and inclusive manner.
According to him, currently ASEAN’s economic growth is in a downward trend, thus requiring new growth drivers. The Blue Economy is one of the potentials that can be utilized jointly by ASEAN member countries as new growth that can strengthen the regional economy.
“Several ASEAN countries, including Indonesia, are working hard to get out of the middle-income country trap. Therefore, we need a new engine for economic growth,” he said.
As a sign of Indonesia’s leadership in ASEAN in 2023 with the theme “ASEAN Matters: Epicentrum of Growth” is reasonable, because Indonesia has various advantages to become the anchor of global stability and the center of global growth in the future, including the blue economy.
