KTT ASEAN 2023 yang diselenggarakan di Labuan Bajo, NTT, menjadi representasi Indonesia sebagai pemegang tongkat estafet pelaksanaan ASEAN Summit ke-42 dan mendorong ASEAN untuk menjadi barometer perdamaian dan kesejahteraan dunia.
Indonesia is entrusted as Chair of ASEAN in 2023. This task is carried out in the midst of challenges and uncertainties in the global situation and after the Corona outbreak. However, this is not the first time that Indonesia has gained international trust in the current situation. Previously, Indonesia also successfully held the G20 event.
Optimism is continuously echoed by the Indonesian government, even the people, in echoing the spirit of ASEAN, especially to achieve regional peace and prosperity.
Director General of Information and Public Communication (IKP) of the Ministry of Communication and Informatics Usman Kansong said, President Jokowi emphasized that Indonesia’s chairmanship would make ASEAN Matters: Epicentrum of Growth, where ASEAN must become stronger and become the epicenter of world growth, remain a peaceful region, uphold human values and democracy, as well as strengthening cooperation so that the economy will progress.
According to Usman, ASEAN has succeeded in becoming a locomotive for peace and prosperity in the region for more than 50 years. However, this locomotive role can only be carried out if all member countries unite and if ASEAN maintains its neutrality.
Therefore, inter- and inter-pillar consolidation of ASEAN continues to be intensified in order to produce a legacy of leadership that is useful and can provide benefits, not only for the people of Indonesia, but also for the people of ASEAN, even the world.
This time, Indonesia’s chairmanship is the fifth time, where previously Indonesia served as Chair of ASEAN in 1976, 1996, 2003 and 2011. The 2023 ASEAN Summit was held in a number of locations across the archipelago, including Labuan Bajo, NTT. As for the ASEAN Plus Summit which will be attended by member countries and ASEAN partner countries in September 2023, in Jakarta.
Previously, the ASEAN Summit on 23-24 February 1976 was held in Bali and resulted in an agreement on the establishment of an ASEAN secretariat based in Jakarta with its first Secretary General from Indonesia named HR Dharsono. The 9th ASEAN Summit on 7-8 October 2003 also took place in Bali, where at the Summit Indonesia proposed the establishment of an ASEAN Community which covers the economic, social, cultural and security fields.
The 18th ASEAN Summit on 4-8 May 2011 was held in Jakarta. And the 19th ASEAN Summit which was held on 17-19 November 2011 was again held in Bali. At the conference, an agreement emerged regarding a nuclear weapons-free zone in Southeast Asia, known as the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon Free Zone “SEANWFZ”.
This time, the 2023 ASEAN Summit was held in Labuan Bajo in May and Jakarta in September 2023. During the 2023 ASEAN Summit series, Indonesia held a number of events and side events such as the ASEAN Indo-Pacific Forum, focusing on several activities, namely the Creative Economy , Youth Conference on Digital Economy for SDGs, Infrastructure Forum, and Business and Investment Summit.
On one occasion, the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Menlu) Retno Marsudi said Indonesia used a positive perspective, was cooperative and optimistic in carrying out the 2023 Asean Chair amidst increasingly difficult world challenges.
Foreign Minister Retno also explained that the world’s challenges in 2023 would be even more difficult. Global uncertainty and a very dynamic geopolitical situation will still be a characteristic of the world, coupled with the ever-increasing rivalry between the big powers.
Related to the theme of the ASEAN Summit or ASEAN Summit 2023, as the holder of the chairmanship, Indonesia adopted the big theme “ASEAN Matters: Epicentrum of Growth”. Where, the future of ASEAN must begin to be prepared to welcome ASEAN 2045. ASEAN centrality must be strengthened in order to be able to maintain peace, stability, prosperity in Southeast Asia and the Indo-Pacific. Apart from that, added Foreign Minister Retno, cooperation in dealing with important cross-border crimes must also be strengthened, as is the case with the ASEAN Human Rights Dialogue.
While the “Epicentrum of Growth” or growth center, Indonesia expressed its determination to continue to make the Southeast Asia Region a center of economic growth.
Indonesia continues to show a real contribution in making the ASEAN Region a barometer of cooperation for peace, stability and prosperity in the region and the world. Indonesia’s chairmanship in ASEAN 2023 takes the theme ‘Asean Matters: Epicentrum of Growth’. With ‘Asean Matters,’ Indonesia is determined to make Asean remain important and relevant to the Asean people and the world. []
Rini Winda A. (Senior Media Contributor / Political Economy Observer)
