President Jokowi Attends the 37th ASEAN Summit
President Jokowi attends the 37th ASEAN Summit through video conference from the Bogor Presidential Palace, West Java Province, Thursday (12/11) (Photo: BPMI – Presidential Secretariat)
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo on Thursday (12/11) attended the 37th ASEAN Summit hosted by Vietnam via video conference from the Bogor Presidential Palace, West Java Province.
According to Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ press release, ten leaders of ASEAN member states and eight leaders of ASEAN partner countries participated in the Summit.
On the same day, the President was also scheduled to attend five virtual conferences, including the 37th ASEAN Plenary Summit, the 23rd ASEAN-China Summit, the 23rd ASEAN-South Korea Summit, the 23rd ASEAN-Japan Summit, and the 17th ASEAN-India Summit.
The summit mainly discussed several joint efforts to prevent wider impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in the ASEAN region by emphasizing the importance of cooperation in the upcoming year, particularly regarding vaccine availability and production for the region. The Summit also discussed regional economic development with partner countries to overcome the economic and social impacts of COVID-19 pandemic.
On that occasion, Indonesia raised the issue of the ASEAN Travel Corridor Arrangement (ATC) to reopen connectivity and restore economic activity. The ATC is expected to facilitate travel access for business people within ASEAN countries in the new normal situation while still implementing health protocols.
“The Summit is important to unify efforts and to affirm the commitment of leaders of ASEAN partners’ to handle the pandemic in a more structured way, and complying with the expected deadline in order to further minimize the impacts of the pandemic on the world as well as region that has become more complex ,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi stated in a statement published on Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ website. (BPMI / UN)
Translated by: Syarifah Aisyah
Reviewed by: Mia Medyana
