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resident Susilo Bambang Yu-dhoyono will discuss the prevention of the effects of the global financial crisis at the G20 meeting in Cannes, France, being held on Nov. 3 and 4.

Deputy Finance Minister Mahendra Siregar said here on Friday that the presence of Yudho-yono would represent Indonesia as a G20 member as well as the ASEAN chair.

“The President says that although what is happening in European countries and the United States is an important issue to address, we should not forget the agenda for developing countries to progress with their development,” he said.

According to Mahendra, continued development in developing countries is important to ensure sustainable growth for the world.

“Overcoming the financial crisis may be determined by developing countries, so we don’t focus only on those troubled countries,” he said.

During the Cannes meeting, Indonesia propose a development action plan as part of the framework for strong and sustainable balanced growth in G20.

Efforts to place development policy firmly on the G20 agenda received a boost in Toronto, when the participants agreed to create a G20 development policy working group, which has since been co-chaired by South Korea and South Africa.

Korea has used the group to float ideas, including an eight-pillar development agenda and multi-year action plan.

“We don’t want to be just a part of the working group. Instead, we want to be the central theme of the framework. This is our target,” Mahendra said.

The G20, founded in 1999, evolved into a crisis management forum in 2009 with the 2008 collapse of US investment bank Lehman Brothers and the resulting turmoil in financial markets.

Besides discussing how Indonesia is holding up against the global financial crisis, Yudhoyono is also planning to deliver a speech on development issues, such as corruption eradication, agriculture and the need for energy sources during the Cannes meeting.

Presidential expert staffer on foreign affairs Teuku Faizasyah said that during the meeting, Indonesia would also explain its efforts in developing sufficient and sustainable energy.

“Indonesia would like to cooperate with other G20 countries and APEC to explore more potential alternative energy, such as geothermal,” he said.

Special presidential assistant on climate change, Agus Purnomo, said that geothermal currently only accounted for 5 percent of Indonesia’s total energy usage.

“The plants are mostly in Java and Sulawesi. But we still have other potential places,” he said.

However, many potential areas for geothermal plants are in protected forests, meaning they require the approval of the forestry minister.

“It also needs a regulation on how to coordinate between the central and local governments and technical operation, which would be easier for an investor to build a plant,” Agus said.

As a developing country, Indonesia needs more energy to support its development. However, the needs of energy for economic development must take into account environmental issues.