G20 Summit: President Joko Widodo Welcomed by Italian PM

President Joko Widodo is welcomed by Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi at the ‘La Nuvola’ Rome Convention Center to attend G20 Summit in Rome on Saturday (30/10). (Photo: Bureau of Press, Media, and Information Affairs of Presidential Secretariat/Laily Rachey)

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo Saturday (30/10) attended Group of Twenty Summit (G20 Summit) at the ‘La Nuvola’ Rome Convention Center in the Italian capital of Rome.

At the venue, President Joko Widodo was welcomed by Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi as the host of the summit.

Other world leaders also attended the G20 Summit, which adopted the theme of “People, Planet, Prosperity”.

They are among others Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

Also attending the summit were Heads of State were Argentinian President Alberto Fernández, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Democratic Republic of the Congo President Felix Tshisekedi, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, Republic of Korea President Moon Jae-in, Rwanda President Paul Kagame, Brunei Darussalam’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, French President Emmanuel Macron, and United States of America President Joe Biden.

After the Heads of State attended the welcoming ceremony, they all proceeded to a photo session.

President Joko Widodo was in the front line, flanked by PM Mario Draghi and Brunei Darussalam’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah. A number of health workers also joined the photo session.

After the photo session, the opening ceremony of the summit was held, followed by Session I meeting adopting the theme of “Global Economy and Global Health”.

In the meantime, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno L.P. Marsudi stated that President Joko Widodo also had an agenda that day to attend the side event concerning support for small and medium enterprises, as well as business owned by women and the President was specially asked to be the speaker.

“Later, the President will also attend a cultural event and a banquet hosted by Italian Prime Minister,” Minister Retno said in her press statement on Friday night (29/10) at local time.

For the record, prior to attending the summit, President Joko Widodo already attended two bilateral meetings respectively with Australian PM Scott Morrison and French President Emmanuel Macron.

The President was also scheduled to have bilateral meetings with Indian, Turkey, and World Bank Leaders.

Minister of Foreign Affairs explained that the agenda for bilateral meetings can change dynamically according to the schedule of the Leaders.

“There may be other bilateral meetings held by requests and we keep trying to adjust the schedules of the President and other leaders,” Retno said. (FID/UN) (AW/EP)