The readiness of everything including digital infrastructure continues to be carried out and pursued by Indonesia as the chairman in organizing the 2023 ASEAN Summit. All of these things will certainly support the smooth running of the event.
Indonesia officially serves as chair of ASEAN for this year, 2023 . With the country officially returning to chair the ASEAN Summit for five times, the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Joko Widodo (Jokowi) expressed a high sense of optimism that the ASEAN region will remain and continue to be relevant and become a center for important economic growth in the country. region even for the world.
As one of the founding countries of ASEAN and the largest country in ASEAN, many parties pin their hopes on Indonesia to be able to make various breakthroughs and innovations in dealing with various world problems that are also faced by the region.
Indonesia is determined to direct ASEAN cooperation in 2023 to continue and strengthen ASEAN’s relevance in responding to regional and global challenges , as well as strengthening ASEAN’s position as the center of regional economic growth, for the prosperity of the people in Southeast Asia.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs ( RI Minister of Foreign Affairs ), Retno Marsudi then stated that the theme chosen by Indonesia for the 2023 ASEAN Summit was ‘ASEAN Matters: Epicentrum of Growth’ , which is a theme that consists of two major elements at once, namely ASEAN Matters and also Epicentrum of Growth.
Foreign Minister Retno then explained the first element, namely ASEAN Matters, namely how Indonesia with its leadership is still able to make the entire ASEAN region continue to be relevant and important not only for its people, but for the whole world community outside ASEAN.
Then for the second element, namely how ASEAN is able to become a center of growth and shows that economic growth in the ASEAN region always grows at a higher rate when compared to other countries, even though there are conditions of economic uncertainty.
The data shows that ASEAN itself has always had higher economic growth protection than the world economy. For the 2023 projection, for example, the ADB’s projection for ASEAN growth is 4.7%, while the World Bank’s projection for world economic growth is 1.7%.
In order to be able to achieve these two big elements, then of course all very mature preparations are needed, especially Indonesia as the host must really ensure that everything can run smoothly in the succession of the 2023 ASEAN Summit .
Therefore, the Ministry of Communication and Informatics ( Kemenkominfo RI) has prepared digital infrastructure support to support the success of the event. Director General of Information and Public Communication of the Ministry of Communication and Informatics ( Kominfo ), Usman Kansong , stated that holding the Summit was part of Indonesia’s efforts to realize the theme ” Asean Matters: Epicentrum of Growth”. He said, Indonesia wants to make the chairmanship of Asean , as the epicenterglobal growth.
Not only providing support by preparing digital infrastructure , but the Ministry of Communication and Information has also ensured the quality of telecommunications services during the ASEAN Summit.
With regard to digital telecommunications infrastructure, a fiber-optic cable network of 3,773 km has been built and 2,055 Optical Distribution Points (ODP) have been spread. Head of the Telecommunication Monitoring Center Team for the Control Directorate General of Post and Information Technology , Kominfo , Indra Apriadi , said that currently the entire Labuan Bajo area has been covered by around 78.12 percent of 4G signals , while residential areas have been covered by around 94.51 percent and at several points there is 5G signal coverage.
Indra explained that in Labuan Bajo itself , in fact the area had even hosted foreign delegates when Indonesia hosted the Group of Twenty (G20) some time ago. So that there is actually a readiness for digital infrastructure quite well.
To support the holding of the 2023 Asean Summit , Kominfo and telecommunications operators , especially the Telkom Group, are providing Combat BTS and upgrading the existing BTS in Golomori ( the summit location ) and the Labuan Bajo area . So far the progress of this readiness has reached around 44.7 percent and is targeted to be completed at least in the second week of April 2023.
By becoming chairman of the 2023 ASEAN Summit, Indonesia continues to optimize all preparations in as many ways as possible, including regarding readiness to provide all the needs for digital infrastructure.
)* The author is an Analyst at the Perkasa Media Institute
