President Joko Widodo to Attend ASEAN Summit in Singapore

Jakarta, MINA — President Joko Widodo will attend the the 32nd Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Singapore on April 27-28, 2018.

Singapore as the host country of this year`s summit picks “Resilient and Innovative ASEAN” as the theme, Antara News quoted Foreign Ministry`s spokesperson Arrmanatha Nasir as telling the journalists in Jakarta on Friday.

The ASEAN Summit will be preceded by a meeting of representatives from permanent member countries on 25 April and Senior Official Meeting on 26 April.

It then be followed with the ASEAN ministerial meeting on 27 April.

President Joko Widodo is scheduled to attend a plenary session on April 27 and a retreat session on 28 April.

Foreign Ministry`s ASEAN political-security cooperation director Chandra Widya Yudha revealed that Indonesian Malaysian Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT GT) summit will be held during the retreat session, which is chaired by Thailand.

“This series of meetings will also be utilized by the president to invite ASEAN leaders to attend the ASEAN leaders gathering later on the sidelines of the IMF-World Bank Annual Meeting in Bali in October,” Yudha said.

100 smart cities

Indonesia will raise several issues in the upcoming ASEAN Summit such as cooperation in cybersecurity and government efforts to push within ASEAN framework to advance ASEAN Smart Cities Network.

“This is in accordance with Indonesia`s movement towards 100 smart cities,” he added.

The core of smart city cooperation, according to Yudha, is to support the use of technology to advance the design of the city to suit the needs and potential of the region, as well as to realize more effective, transparent and reliable governance.

Indonesia will also encourage the development of the Indo-Pacific framework concept in the summit, and support the strengthening of the protection of migrant workers through the implementation of the consensus on the protection and promotion of the rights of migrant workers achieved at the ASEAN Summit in Manila in November last year.

The 32nd ASEAN Summit is expected to produce some key documents namely ASEAN Leaders Vison for Resilient and Innovative ASEAN, the ASEAN Leaders Statement on Cyber Security Cooperation, and the ASEAN Smart Cities Network concept note.

The document on cybersecurity cooperation will be one of ASEAN`s efforts to strengthen cooperation in cyber security through capacity building and regional policy development to create a responsible cyber environment, Yudha said. (T/RS5/RS1)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)