Less than two weeks before the summit, Foreign Minister Arrmanatha Nasir led a meeting on Tuesday with Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni, Environment Minister Jumhur Hidayat and Finance Ministry representatives to follow up on President Prabowo Subianto’s directive to strengthen “coordination and communication with regional neighbors”.

The meeting, according to the Foreign Ministry, focused particularly on addressing “irresponsible business practices” contributing to the months-long forest and peatland fires in Indonesia, whose toxic haze has billowed to neighboring countries and raised health concerns across Southeast Asia.

“Addressing forest and land fires is a top priority. To break the cycle of irresponsible business practices, we need synergy across all relevant ministries and agencies, as well as strong cooperation with our partner nations,” Arrmanatha said.

The National Police have named at least 20 corporations and more than 200 individuals as suspects for either alleged deliberate land-clearing fires or negligence resulting in public health emergencies. They include 16 domestic firms and four foreign-invested firms from Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea.

Arrmanatha also called for the utilization of the recently established Joint Task Force on Strengthening Business Responsibilities between Indonesia and Singapore, which serves to address businesses’ roles behind the fire crisis by focusing on information sharing and cross-border evidence gathering.

The task force was announced on Oct. 27 after the haze strained Indonesia’s relations with its neighbors, particularly Malaysia and Singapore. Jakarta had repeatedly turned down their offers of firefighting assistance and faced criticism for public remarks perceived as downplaying the severity of the crisis.

Popular

Supreme Court ruling renews calls for Gibran to step down

Ukraine claims another Indonesian recruited to Russian military killed

Nine dead in small plane crash near Trump's Florida home