President Jokowi: ASEAN-India Must Maintain Indo-Pacific Stability, Prosperity
President Jokowi at the 19th ASEAN-India Summit at Sokha Hotel in Phnom Penh, Saturday (11/12). (Photo by: BPMI of Presidential Secretariat/Kris)
Nearing the 30th year of ASEAN-India partnership, Indonesia urges that ASEAN-India partnership can be focused on cooperation in healthcare and food sectors, as well as making Indo-Pacific a stable, peaceful, and prosperous region.
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo made the statement at the 19th ASEAN-India Summit at Sokha Hotel in Phnom Penh, Saturday (11/12) attended by ASEAN leaders and Vice President of India Jagdeep Dhankhar.
“Indo-Pacific is a strategic region, so rivalry is unavoidable in the region and if it is not managed well, it can turn into an open conflict. ASEAN-India must be able to be a guardian for the stability and prosperity in Indo-Pacific,” he said.
The President stated that Indo-Pacific must have concrete cooperation, which is why Indonesia invited India to the Indo-Pacific Infrastructure Forum that will be held next year during the Southeast Asian country’s ASEAN Chairmanship.
“Second, cooperation in healthcare, including cooperation in the procurement of raw materials for medicine and medicines,” he said while urging that the supply chain of medicinal raw materials and medicines must not be disrupted anymore.
“Third, cooperation in the food sector. Together, ASEAN and India have a population of approximately two billion people. We must work together to prevent fertilizer crisis from occurring,” President Jokowi said, adding that based on the Global Crisis Response Group, if there is a fertilizer crisis, it will affect rice production next year and impact more than three billion people.
“ASEAN-India must be the ones that prevent fertilizer crisis,” he remarked. (BPMI of Presidential Secretariat/AIT) (DH/MMB)
