With the Group of 20 Summit commencing and Indonesia assuming the ASEAN chairmanship in about two weeks’ time, panelists at a global think tank conference have lauded the nation’s efforts in maintaining the relevancy of both groups on the global stage.

Indonesia’s G20 presidency has been eclipsed by Russia's war in Ukraine, which, on top of sparking global food and energy crises and a potential collapse of international cooperation, has fueled fears of deepening conflict closer to home, with Jakarta presiding over ASEAN next year under the shadow of the Myanmar coup crisis.

Yose Rizal Damuri, executive director of the Jakarta-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said that while the G20 itself was a massive group that talked about “everything under the sky”, Indonesia had sought to keep the forums focused on issues of common concern.

He pointed out that parallel discussions were underway among 13 working groups under the Sherpa track and seven under the Finance track. For these discussions, Indonesia has tried to keep the focus on three priority agendas set early on in its presidency: global health architecture, digital transformation and energy transition.

“Indonesia was actually quite successful in directing discussions to focus on several important and critical agenda,” Yose said in a discussion held as part of the Council of Councils’ 13th Regional Conference that gathers think tanks from around the world, on Tuesday.

In spite of its best efforts, however, Indonesia had not been able to bridge the interests of G20 member states, the economist said, as most working groups and ministerial meetings in the lead-up to the G20 Summit later this month had failed to produce a joint statement. Instead, Indonesia has been issuing G20 chair statements.

Michael Fullilove, executive director of Australia’s Lowy Institute foreign policy think tank, acknowledged that the hosting of the G20 forum would be particularly hard, noting that Australia faced similar hardship during its presidency in 2014 that coincided with Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

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