Opening the 43rd ASEAN Summit Session in Jakarta, President Jokowi Highlights the Value of ASEAN Unity and Equality
The opening of the 43rd ASEAN Summit in Jakarta is a historic moment that strengthens Indonesia’s role as a founding member of ASEAN and an important host. In his opening speech at the Summit, President Jokowi highlighted several important issues of concern to this region.
At the opening of the 43rd ASEAN Summit at the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC), President Jokowi emphasized that ASEAN would work together with anyone. Moreover, in the interests of peace and prosperity. He touched on the issue of the struggle for big influence in the world. However, ASEAN agreed not to be a proxy for any power. The President hopes that no one will turn ASEAN into an arena of mutually destructive rivalry. But the ASEAN ship must be used as a field of cooperation to create prosperity, stability, peace not only for the region but also for the world.
President Jokowi also highlighted the values of unity and equality which are the main values within ASEAN. The President said that the collaboration between the two was the main driver of ASEAN’s progress. He advised ASEAN to become an arena for cooperation that creates regional prosperity, stability and peace. According to President Jokowi, many injustices and conflicts occur due to a lack of equality. However, in a different ASEAN, equality is actually the main value that is respected and upheld together within the framework of unity and togetherness, so that ASEAN’s big ship can continue to move forward.
On the same occasion, Jokowi welcomed the leaders of ASEAN countries to Jakarta. All Indonesian people are very happy to welcome the presence of the country’s leaders as a big ASEAN family. In his speech, Jokowi also said that ASEAN could not possibly stand alone to face the challenges that exist in the world. According to him, in its journey, ASEAN needs to work together with partner organizations from Southeast Asian countries.
The opening ceremony was also attended by leaders and representatives of countries participating in the ASEAN Summit, namely Lao Prime Minister (PM) Sonexay Siphandone, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, Head of Thai Delegation Sarun Charoensuwan, and President of the Philippines Ferdinan Marcos Jr.
Then, Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong, Malaysian PM Anwar Ibrahim, Vietnam PM Pham Minh Chinh, Timor Leste PM Xanana Gusmao, Cooks Islands PM Mark Brown, Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin, and Brunei Darussalam Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah. For your information, the 43rd ASEAN Summit series will be held in Jakarta from Tuesday (5/9) to Thursday (7/9).
The 43rd ASEAN Summit series will also include summits between ASEAN and a number of partner countries. The series of meetings were in plenary and retreat format, namely the 26th ASEAN-China Summit, the 24th ASEAN-South Korea Summit, the 26th ASEAN-Japan Summit, and the 11th ASEAN-United States Summit. The other meetings are the ASEAN-Canada Summit, the 26th ASEAN Plus Three Summit, the 20th ASEAN-India Summit, the 3rd ASEAN-Australia Summit, the 18th East Asia Summit (EAS), and the 13th ASEAN-Union Summit. Nations (UN).
