Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.
Distinguished Speaker of the House of Representatives (DPR) of the Republic of Indonesia and Chairperson of the 44^th AIPA Ibu Dr. Puan Maharani;
Distinguished Speaker of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) of the Republic of Indonesia;
Distinguished Speakers and Deputy Speakers, and members of the parliaments from AIPA observer countries;
Distinguished Secretary General of AIPA, and distinguished members of Parliaments;
Ladies and gentlemen.

Welcome to Jakarta, the headquarters of ASEAN. It is an honor for me to attend this meeting.

Parliaments reflect the voice of the people. Therefore, the aspirations of the ASEAN people must be represented and their interests must be fought for.

Parliament represents the voice of the people. Parliament reflects the voice of the people. The preamble of the ASEAN Charter begins with “We, the Peoples.” Therefore, the aspirations of the ASEAN people must be represented and their interests must be fought for.

Ladies and gentlemen,
It has been 56 years that ASEAN has contributed greatly to peace and stability in the region. However, we should not be complacent. We cannot take regional peace and stability for granted. Regional peace and stability must be earned, and must be fought for. For this reason, ASEAN must work together and trust each other to become a locomotive in maintaining peace and stability in the region. The mutual trust and solidity among the Governments of ASEAN members, solidity between parliaments of ASEAN members, and solidity with other stakeholders are very important. If ASEAN is united, it can play its central role and it can continue to be relevant.

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

We must work together for the welfare of our people and achieve equitable welfare. We must be grateful that ASEAN’s economic growth remains stable. According to OECD, Southeast Asia is one of the drivers of world economic growth. As chair of ASEAN, Indonesia aims to make the ASEAN region the center of world economic growth, as the epicenter of growth. Therefore, ASEAN economic integration must be strengthened, trade barriers with ASEAN partners must be removed, and equal and mutually beneficial economic cooperation must be improved.

The EU-ASEAN Business Sentiment Survey involving 600 private sectors in the European Union was released on 1 August. The results are encouraging. ASEAN is considered the region with the best economic opportunity by 63 percent of the respondents, followed by China (12 percent), and India (8 percent), while 80 percent of respondents see ASEAN as an important region, and 84 percent of them would like to increase trade volume with ASEAN. The survey shows that the trust in ASEAN is very good, and it is our duty to develop a prosperous Southeast Asia based on that trust. All of this requires support from parliaments in ASEAN. We all need to do our best to achieve our goal. Once again, the ASEAN Charter opens with ‘We, the Peoples,’ meaning that the interest of the ASEAN people is paramount.

By saying bismillahirrahmanirrahim, I hereby open the 44^th AIPA General Assembly.

I thank you.
Wassalamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.

(RI/LW)