UN Secretary-General Appreciates Indonesia’s Role in Rakhine Crisis

President Jokowi during the ASEAN Summit in Manila, the Philippines, on Monday (13/11)

On the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo had a bilateral meeting with the Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres at the Philippines International Convention Center (PICC), Manila, the Philippines, on Monday (13/11).

The Deputy for Protocol, Press, and Media of the Secretariat of the President, Bey Machmudin, in a press release said that the meeting discussed efforts to solve humanitarian crisis in Rakhine State, Myanmar.

“Secretary-General Guterres appreciated Indonesia’s role in assisting the resolvement of  humanitarian crisis in Rakhine State, Myanmar,” Bey added.

Both President Jokowi and Secretary-General Guterres shared similar concern regarding this crisis and have agreed to continue to support the resolvement measures.

“If we don’t resolve the crisis, it will affect regional stability and security. The ongoing crisis will also inflict radicalism and raise the terrorist threats,” President Jokowi firmly said.

Aside from this problem, President Jokowi and the UN Secretary-General also discussed the importance to complete the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on repatriation between Myanmar and Bangladesh as soon as possible.

“Completing the Memorandum of Understanding is really important for the repatriation process,” President Jokowi added.

Later in the evening, during the 9^th ASEAN-UN Summit which took place at the Philippines International Convention Center (PICC), Manila, the Philippines, on Monday(13/11), President Jokowi invited all ASEAN member countries to cooperate with the UN in strengthening the synergy and cooperation which have been established.

The President reminded all that ASEAN and the UN shared same missions and agenda. Therefore, synergy between ASEAN and the UN must be strengthened.

On that occasion, President Jokowi also asked the UN to give more contribution to realize the dream of the Palestinian people to gain full independence.

“I know that obtaining full independence for the Palestinian is not easy. However, I hope your chairmanship can bring significant progress to issues regarding the Palestine,” the President concluded.

President Jokowi also said that Indonesia will continue helping Palestine to gain its independence. (SM/ES)(RAS/mmb/YM/Naster)