Successfully Holding the AIS Summit, Indonesia Proves its Strategic Role for Island Countries
Badung – After successfully holding the 42nd and 43rd ASEAN Summits, Indonesia again successfully held the first Archipelagic and Island States (AIS) Summit in Bali.
In his speech, Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) said that Indonesia was honored to host the first AIS Forum summit.
“As fellow archipelago and island countries, regardless of whether they are big or small, developed or developing, we share complex challenges that are interrelated and connected to each other, such as sea level rise, governance, marine resources and marine pollution,” said Jokowi .
According to him, collaboration and solidarity between archipelagic countries and island states is very important to produce strategic, concrete and tactical steps in solving common problems.
“The 2023 AIS Summit is an important opportunity to determine the direction of future collaboration where there are three things that we need to encourage,” he continued.
Furthermore, Jokowi explained that solidarity, equality and inclusiveness are principles that are shared.
“Secondly, prioritizing concrete cooperation that is tailored to the recipient’s needs, and thirdly, a strong and dynamic cooperation framework to face future challenges,” he stressed.
As for the results of the 2023 AIS Summit negotiations, Indonesia and other participating countries succeeded in formulating a leader’s declaration document and a strategic agreement.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Retno L. Marsudi, explained that the process of making a leader’s declaration starts at the Senior Officer Meeting (SOM) level, namely first echelon officials. The material at the 5th Ministerial Meeting AIS Forum 2023 is the results of the 7th SOM in Suva, Fiji and the 8th SOM in Antananarivo, Madagascar. The ministers discussed the substance again comprehensively.
“The results of the 5th MM AIS Forum 2023 were discussed by the heads of state at the AIS Forum 2023 Summit, and agreed upon at the end of the Summit. “President Jokowi is chairing the 2023 AIS Forum Summit,” said Minister Retno at the 2023 AIS Forum Summit Media Center.
The leaders’ declaration basically proves the commitment of island and archipelagic countries in facing the challenges of natural phenomena and climate change.
According to Retno, AIS Forum member countries, including Indonesia, must always be at the forefront of similar commitments, because the country’s territory is very vulnerable to the negative impacts of natural phenomena.
“For Indonesia, this commitment is important, because we are the largest archipelagic country,” said Retno.
Initiating the 2023 AIS Forum Summit is one solution to overcome the impact of natural phenomena due to climate change that may occur in the next few years.
