epresenting President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, Vice President Jusuf Kalla and his entourage arrived in Lima, Peru, on Friday to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) trade summit, which will kick off on Saturday.
This is the second time Jokowi has stayed at home while leaders of the 21 APEC members meet to discuss global challenges. Jokowi skipped a similar event last year in Manila.
Kalla defended Jokowi by saying that the President's no-show was simply a division of labor between the two leaders, where Kalla was assigned to bigger, global forums while Jokowi would take care of the smaller regional summits.
The Peru forum carries the theme “Quality Growth and Human Capital Development: Foundations for Sustainable Growth in the Asia-Pacific”.
Kalla said Indonesia would approach non-United States APEC members in Peru to remind them to stick to the Bogor agreements that members made in Indonesia in 1994. The agreement centers on a commitment by Asia Pacific economies to free and open trade and investment regimes.
Trump has vowed to implement a protectionist economic policy, a move that could badly affect trade among APEC members given the status of the US as the largest consumer of imported goods from APEC countries including China and Indonesia. (jun)
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