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Indonesia’s diplomacy and the G20 presidency: Debunking the skeptics
In today’s context, empowering bilateral diplomacy also represents the desire of domestic constituents to see more tangible outcomes or concrete projects from diplomatic missions overseas.
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Group of 20 leaders raise their garden hoes for a group photo during a tree planting event at the Taman Hutan Raya Ngurah Rai Mangrove Forest, on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Nusa Dua, Bali on Nov. 16. (AFP/ Alex Brandon )
Heavy rain started pouring in Nusa Dua, Bali, not long after President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo announced the Group of 20 had reached a consensus to issue a Leaders’ Declaration during their summit on Nov. 16. The rain created a sense of respite after the island of gods had endured extreme heat and humidity for several days.
A similar atmosphere of relief prevailed when officials who were part of the Foreign Ministry G20 task force had dinner that day. It was as if a big stone had been removed from their chest. There was much joy that evening.
Co-sherpa of the G20 Dian Djani shared many behind the scenes stories of diplomatic efforts, ranging from the drafting of some contentious paragraphs in the declaration to securing support from G20 members. He also described the important role of Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, who intervened in critical junctures in an effort to assuage concern among some countries on those paragraphs.
As the monologue went on, I looked around the table and was struck to see many unfamiliar faces of young diplomats whom I reckon only recently joined the Foreign Ministry.
To my big surprise, in all this year, they were entrusted with huge responsibilities to ensure the success of the G20 process.
Their roles ranged from preparing briefing notes, liaising and partnering with line ministries on many technical meetings, stock taking concrete deliverables to simply acting as junior assistants to Indonesia’s co-sherpa and sous sherpa.
Their extensive exposure into multilateral diplomacy in action convinced me that they would be ready to take up the mantle and oversee Indonesia’s next chairmanship in the G20, some years from now.
