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Indonesia ready to drive peace, prosperity in Asia: Jokowi
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From Left to right: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) secretary-general Jose Angel Gurria, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde, Lao President Bounnhang Vorachit, EU Council President Donald Tusk, Papua New Guinean Prime Minister Peter O'Neill, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Chadian President Idriss Deby, US President Barack Obama, Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, French President Francois Hollande, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, British Prime Minister David Cameron, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, World Bank president Jim Yong Kim and Asian Development Bank president Takehiko Nakao pose for a photo session at the G-7 Summit in Shima, Japan, on Friday. (Pool Photo via AP/Jeon Heon-kyun)
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ndonesia is ready to become a driving force for prosperity and peace in Asia, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has announced at the Outreach Meeting of the G7 Summit held in Japan on Friday.
The President said peace, security and stability needed to be created and maintained. Therefore, Asian countries should be mindful of and properly manage potential conflicts in the South China Sea and the Korean Peninsula and find peaceful solutions.
According to him, emerging countries have demonstrated their ability to promote peace and economic growth in the world. Hence, he proposed emerging countries should play a greater role in creating peace and sustainable prosperity.
"Indonesia is ready to become the driver in Asia to create a prosperous and peaceful world. Indonesia calls on all countries, and I mean all countries, without exception, to respect international law," Jokowi said in his remarks at the G7 Outreach Meeting, as stated in a press statement, on Friday.
He stressed that Indonesia refused to see Asia as a region of conflict or an arena for power struggles by big countries. The President reiterated his position that without respect for international law, peace and stability would perish.
Jokowi also pointed out the importance of solving problems without creating bigger problems, stressing that military solutions or the use of force would only fuel more violence and extremism, causing humanitarian crises.
He cited 2014 data pointing to global losses due to armed violence of US$14.3 trillion, or 13.4 percent of the global gross domestic product (GDP).
Furthermore, he stated that the Asia Pacific region had become the most secure region in the world, leading to projected economic growth of 5.3 percent, higher than average global growth, which was estimated to reach only 3.2 percent.
"In the last quarter of 2015, Indonesia's economy grew by 5.04 percent," Jokowi said. (ags)
