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Minister vows strong RI leadership of ASEAN in 2011
Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said Indonesia was committed to leading ASEAN and making it a prominent member of the global community
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ndonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said Indonesia was committed to leading ASEAN and making it a prominent member of the global community.
After attending a Cabinet meeting on Friday to discuss preparations for next year’s ASEAN summits and the East Asia Summit, Marty said Indonesia wanted to develop Jakarta into ASEAN’s “diplomatic capital”.
Marty said President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had invited ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan to attend the meeting because of Indonesia’s goals for its ASEAN chairmanship. Surin said this was the first such meeting he had attended while serving as secretary-general of the regional forum.
At the meeting, Surin was asked to share his views on how Indonesia could realize its targets regarding its chairmanship of ASEAN next year.
“I guess this shows the President’s seriousness in ensuring that in 2011 Indonesia will not only chair ASEAN, but also lead ASEAN in a constructive way,” Marty said after the meeting.
Surin welcomed Indonesia’s goals and expressed his confidence that the country would realize them as long as it “proactively” played its role as ASEAN chair.
He said Indonesia’s membership in the G20 economic forum paved the way for ASEAN to enter the global stage, as Indonesia was Southeast Asia’s representative at the forum.
“You have your own problems and challenges, but the experiences you have had will certainly help ASEAN, integrate ASEAN and lead ASEAN into the challenges of the global community,” Surin said.
“I think the world and ASEAN are expecting that ASEAN, with its theme of an ‘ASEAN Community in a Global Community of Nations’, under Indonesia’s leadership is going to see a higher profile on many issues,” he said, referring to the country’s theme for 2011.
President Yudhoyono said he expected the ASEAN and the East Asian summits next year to be a success, citing a number of historic international events held in the country, including the 1994 APEC Summit that produced the Bogor goals and the 2007 UN Climate Change Conference in Bali that produced the Bali Road Map.
“Given the development at the global and regional levels, there will be a lot of issues that we’ll probably have to discuss in the ASEAN Summits and the East Asia Summit next year,” he said.
“I want the summits to be a success. That’s why I want the government to involve the public in organizing the events. We need to get universities, businesses, civil society, young people and others to join us in making the events a success.”
Yudhoyono said that while the ASEAN Summits would be held in April and October or November, the East Asia Summit would take place about the same time with the second ASEAN Summit.
US President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev are expected to attend the East Asia Summit as the US and Russia join the forum of 10 ASEAN countries plus six: China, Japan, India, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.
