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RI diplomacy influential despite Jokowi’s focus on domestic issues
Indonesian diplomacy under Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi has done much to expand the country’s influence on the global stage, analysts have said, even though President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has focused more on domestic affairs during his decade in power.
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President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo (right) gestures as United States President Joe Biden (front left), German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (back left), Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (back center) and other leaders walk together during a tree-planting event at the Taman Hutan Raya Ngurah Rai Mangrove Forest, on the sidelines of the Group of 20 Summit in Nusa Dua, Bali, on Nov. 16, 2022. (AFP/Mast Irham/Pool)
The Foreign Ministry under Retno LP Marsudi has done much to expand the country’s influence on the global stage and has pulled its weight in the administration of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, analysts say, despite the President’s focus on domestic issues during his decade in power.
Jokowi's absence from several top international gatherings, including at the United Nations, has limited the effectiveness of Indonesian diplomacy, critics say, adding that the President seems to have privileged economic dealings at such forums over geopolitical and security concerns.
Nonetheless, some analysts say the country’s diplomatic corps, under the command of its first female foreign minister, has pulled its own weight during the period, successfully navigating challenging diplomatic tasks, including when hosting the Group of 20 Summit in Bali in 2022 amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Despite the tensions, the Bali meeting produced a joint communiqué in which most of the leaders condemned the war.
“The past decade has seen the Indonesian diplomatic process successfully achieve some milestones worth our appreciation,” said Ahmad Rizky M. Umar, an international relations expert at Aberystwyth University in the United Kingdom, last week.
“We can see an increasing, positive trend in how our diplomacy has grown the country’s influence,” he continued.
Read also: Diplomacy still Indonesia’s greatest strength in region: Study
