Jakarta, MINA – Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo called for ending the war in Ukraine right now. This was emphasized by the President at the ASEAN-US Special Summit which was held at the US Department of State, Washington DC on Friday.
According to Jokowi, the war in Ukraine has created a humanitarian tragedy and worsened the world economy. Rising food, energy and inflation prices have occurred, severely weighing on the economy and slowing the achievement of the sustainable development goals or SDGs in developing and least developed countries.
“While the world should quickly recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, the world is facing a new problem, the war in Ukraine. When the world needs cooperation and collaboration, the rivalry and confrontation are getting sharper. When the world needs multilateralism that is getting stronger, it is unilateralism that is getting more and more prominent,” said President Jokowi.
The president also said the war in Ukraine had weakened multilateralism and had the potential to divide relations between countries.
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“War won’t benefit anyone. The world has no other choice but to stop the war right now. Every country, every leader has a responsibility to create an enabling environment so that wars can be stopped, peace can be realized,” said the President.
Economic growth, according to President Jokowi, is also concerning. The International Monetary Fund or IMF has lowered its prediction of economic growth in emerging and developing Asia by 0.5 percent in 2022 and 0.2 percent in 2023 and the World Bank has lowered its prediction for economic growth in several ASEAN countries to 1.2 percent.
“For some ASEAN members, a 10 percent increase in oil prices will result in a 0.7 percent decrease in national income and an increase in wheat prices will result in a 1 percent increase in poverty,” the President explained.
The President reiterated what was said at the meeting with Congress. “For more than five decades, ASEAN has continued to build an inclusive security architecture, put forward a collaboration paradigm, encourage a habit of dialogue and rules based orders. We encourage the same spirit in the Indo-Pacific through the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific,” explained the President.
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At the Special Summit which was attended by President Joe Biden and also the leaders of the ASEAN countries, President Jokowi welcomed America’s initiative through the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF).
“Of course, cooperation under IPEF must be inclusive. I hope the synergy between IPEF and the implementation of priority cooperation in the AOIP (ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific),” said President Jokowi.
When Indonesia becomes chairman of ASEAN next year, President Jokowi also conveys his plan to hold the Indo-Pacific Infrastructure Forum.
“I look forward to the participation of the United States in the forum,” concluded the President. (T/RE1)
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