President Jokowi Invites ASEAN to Increase Cooperation in the Digital Sector at the 2023 Summit
Jakarta – The President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, invited ASEAN countries to increase cooperation in the digital field at the ASEAN Summit (Summit) to be held in 2023.
President Jokowi said that ASEAN must take more proactive steps to harness the potential of digital technology in enhancing the economy, social development, and sustainable progress.
“ASEAN’s young generation must be an important part of digital transformation. As digital natives, millennials and Gen-Z are important drivers for accelerating digital transformation,” he said.
President Jokowi emphasized that until last year ASEAN had 35 unicorns. Start-ups in Southeast Asia that are fronted by young people have also generated 8.2 billion US dollars in 2020.
“Only by accelerating digital transformation will ASEAN quickly make a big leap into becoming a developed country,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia, Retno Marsudi said the theme of ASEAN 2023 was “ASEAN Matters: Epicentrum of Growth.” The theme consists of two major elements, namely ASEAN Matters and Epicentrum of Growth.
“The first element is ASEAN Matters. How can Indonesia, with its chairmanship, continue to make ASEAN relevant and important not only for the Indonesian people, but also for the people of ASEAN and beyond. So there is a beyond, outside of ASEAN,” said Foreign Minister Retno.
For the second element, ASEAN as a growth center shows that economic growth in the ASEAN region always grows higher than other countries outside ASEAN.
“Therefore, during Indonesia’s chairmanship, our flagship event is the ASEAN Indo-Pacific Forum. Within the ASEAN Indo-pacific Forum there are four main activities. One is related to the creative economy, the second is digital economy for SDGs for sustainable development goals, the third is the business and investment summit, and the fourth is infrastructure,” he said.
So according to him, the two elements in ASEAN 2023 could be an effort to strengthen Southeast Asia in terms of regional economic growth and the prosperity of the ASEAN people.
The period of Indonesia’s chairmanship in ASEAN itself begins on 1 January 2023 and will last for a year until 31 December 2023.
