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ASEAN pitches itself as open for business with any country
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ASEAN Economic Ministers do “the ASEAN way“ pose for the 55th ASEAN Economic Ministers' (AEM) Meeting at Padma Hotel in Semarang, Central Java, on Aug. 19, 2023. (The Jakarta Post/Deni Ghifari)
U
nder Indonesia's leadership, ASEAN has used a trade and investment summit to promote itself as a fast-developing region that is willing to take a pragmatic position in a world deeply divided along geopolitical fault lines.
Deputy ASEAN secretary-general Satvinder Singh said on Tuesday that ASEAN had always had very strong relationships with all the large powers of the world, despite current tensions.
“Our universe today is still a complete universe where we work with everyone,” Singh told reporters at the 55th ASEAN Economic Ministers’ (AEM) Meeting in Semarang, Central Java.
Singh asserted that the region had been nourishing strong, decades-long, reciprocal relationships with the United States, the European Union, China and Russia in both trade and investment, regardless of the geopolitical situation.
Neutrality, Singh said, was a position adopted universally by ASEAN member states in consideration of the long-term goal of “staying relevant to the world”.
“For the benefit of our people, we need to be connected to all markets, all communities,” Singh said after the final press conference of the six-day event.
Deputy Trade Minister Jerry Sambuaga said Jakarta endorsed the same view, given the country’s principle of pursuing a free and active foreign policy.
