Indonesia Ready to Welcome ASEAN Foreign Ministers and Partners

Jakarta, MINA – The Indonesian government has ensured that it is ready to welcome foreign ministers from members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and dialogue partner countries who will attend the series of the 56th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AMM) in Jakarta on 10-14 July 2023 .

This was conveyed by the Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi through her written statement, after visiting the AMM 2023 media center at Wisma BNI 46, Jakarta on Monday.

As quoted from Infopublik.go.id, Retno is scheduled to open the AMM (plenary) session on Tuesday, which was preceded by a meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers to discuss the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone (SEANWFZ), and a meeting with the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) .

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, AMM will continue with a review session (retreat).

The series of meetings continued on Thursday, with a meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers and dialogue partner countries, namely India, New Zealand, Russia, Australia, China, Japan, South Korea, the European Union, the United Kingdom and Canada.

Meanwhile on Friday, ASEAN foreign ministers will hold a meeting with the United States, as well as ASEAN Plus Three (APT), East Asia Summit (EAS) foreign ministers meeting, and the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF).

During these various meetings, said Retno, Indonesia had received 13 requests for bilateral meetings from partner countries, including from New Zealand, China, Timor Leste, India, Japan, Britain and the EU.

The day before the AMM took place, Foreign Minister Retno had inspected all the locations where the event was held as well as the media center to ensure that the facilities for media coverage were properly available.

Indonesia as chair of ASEAN this year sets the theme “ASEAN Matters: Epicentrum of Growth” with a focus on directing cooperation to strengthen ASEAN’s relevance in responding to regional and global challenges and strengthen ASEAN’s position as a center of economic growth in the region.

Previously, United States Secretary of State (US Secretary of State) Antony J. Blinken will attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the US Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Jakarta.

“Secretary Blinken will pay a visit to Jakarta, Indonesia, to attend the US-ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting,” US State Department Spokesman Metthew Miller said in a statement released by the US Department of State on Friday.

Apart from attending the ASEAN-US Foreign Ministers Summit, Blinken is also scheduled to attend the East Asia Summit (EAS), and the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), all three of which are scheduled to take place on 14 July 2023.

In addition, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will also attend the 56th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (AMM) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Jakarta.

“On July 13-14, Sergey Lavrov will attend the meeting of Foreign Ministers within the framework of Russia-ASEAN, the East Asia Summit and the #ASEAN Regional Forum in Jakarta,” said the Russian Embassy in Jakarta through an announcement on their official Twitter account, @RusEmbJakarta, Thursday. (T/RE1/P2)

Mi’raj News Agency MINA)