West Manggarai – The government successfully held the ASEAN Summit in Labuan Bajo, East Nusa Tenggara, NTT). Indonesia’s success in hosting and chairing ASEAN in 2023 has had a major economic impact.
Member of the United Development Party (F-PPP) Fraction of the DPR RI, Achmad Baidowi said, the DPR RI is optimistic about the successful achievement of holding the 42nd ASEAN Summit in Labuan Bajo, including the positive impact of the ASEAN Summit.
“For example, the arrival of the participants is an opportunity to bring investment and improve Indonesia’s image which will bring in revenue from the tourism and trade sectors,” said Achmad Baidowi.
According to him, success has been seen with the selection of the theme “ASEAN Matters: Epicenter of Growth”.
“We know that consulting agencies, international rating agencies, and international media have predicted that Indonesia will be less likely to be hit by a recession, while still achieving relatively high economic growth of around 4.8 percent. Europe and America experienced a different fate, which was more affected by the war in Ukraine,” he said.
He explained, Indonesia is the largest country in ASEAN so that an economic increase of almost 5 percent can encourage positive economic growth in all ASEAN countries. Moreover, there are ASEAN partnerships with big countries such as the US, Japan, China, South Korea, the European Union, and others.
“This will allow ASEAN to transmit positive effects to the world economy. So it is very natural for Indonesia to choose the theme of the ASEAN Summit which emphasizes the importance of ASEAN as a center for world economic growth,” he said.
A number of issues were raised in the series of ASEAN Summit activities, including through the preparation of the “ASEAN Taxonomy on Sustainable Finance and Study on the Role of Central Banks in Managing Climate and Environment-Related Risk”.
He added, there are three “Priorities Economic Deliverables” pillars, namely (1) “Recover-Rebuilding” to ensure recovery, economic growth, mitigate inflation risk and capital flow volatility, (2) “Digital Economy” to strengthen financial inclusion and digital literacy, including increasing the interconnectivity of regional payment systems, and (3) “Sustainability” in which ASEAN becomes an area affected by natural disasters and climate change risks.
“These three pillars are needed by micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to be able to compete in the international market. For example, the digital economy has opportunities for MSMEs, including those from remote, outermost/frontier, and lagging areas. However, if the government is not careful, large investors and foreign investors have more chances to dominate the market,” he concluded. [*]
