Question: What are the key priorities in the cooperation between the UN and Indonesia, especially now with the pandemic ongoing?

Answer: With the pandemic, our priorities somewhat have been challenged but at the same time what is interesting is that they remained very relevant. The UN together with the Indonesian government are linked together by a compact for humanity: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals.

We [UN in Indonesia and the government] have a joint partnership framework. It was signed in 2016 and it would [last] until the end of this year. But then COVID-19 came along, and this year we are meeting in a different situation where we have developed another framework to respond to COVID-19 at the same time.

What is important is that we have prepared the next partnership framework we just signed in April this year and will be running from January 2021 till the end of 2025. 

We have four big priorities, first is on people – that is to say, to inclusive human development.  Here we cover everything that goes from health, education, sanitation, food security, social cohesion [and] social protection.

The second priority is on economic transformation – and here what we mean by that [is] we need to equip the people as well as the institution of the country in a way that we can contribute to an economy that is transforming very quickly.