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Indonesia rallies Global South against discrimination
The message at the summit in Johannesburg appeared to encapsulate President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo’s growing frustration with Western partners like the European Union, which has attempted to block Indonesia’s downstreaming of its critical minerals sector by dragging it to the World Trade Organization (WTO).
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President Joko “Jokowi“ Widodo joins the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa on Aug. 24, 2023. (Bureau of Press, Media, and Information of Presidential Secretariat/Laily Rachev)
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resident Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has made a resounding call to unite and reject any effort to obstruct the progress of development in the Global South, while skirting around the conspicuous absence of Indonesia from the expansion of a loose association of countries intent on rebalancing a world order dominated by the affluent Global North.
At a session of the BRICS Plus Dialogue held in South Africa on Thursday, Jokowi called on fellow emerging economies to fight for the right to developmental justice.
“We have all witnessed the injustice of the current world economic order,” the President asserted, according to a readout of his speech received by The Jakarta Post.
“We must reject trade discrimination. Industrial downstreaming must not be hindered. We must all continue to voice equal and inclusive cooperation.”
The message at the summit in Johannesburg appeared to encapsulate Jokowi’s growing frustration with Western partners like the European Union, which has attempted to block Indonesia’s downstreaming of its critical minerals sector by dragging it to the World Trade Organization (WTO).
BRICS itself is a bloc of loosely associated economic powers comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, which has pledged to support the developing world and offer an alternative to the world order dominated by wealthy Western nations.
Read also: BRICS entails opportunities, risks for Indonesia
