VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Jakarta (voinews): Japan has asked Indonesia to establish closer cooperation with related partner countries in order to overcome the issues faced in the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) region.

"To solve a very important problem, we need to cooperate more closely with related partner countries," deputy director of the second division of Southeast Asia at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan Kaneko Kazuya said here on Thursday.

He made the statement in response to a question regarding Japan's view of Indonesia's chairmanship of the ASEAN in 2023.

Kazuya said that Indonesia is one of the largest dominant countries among ASEAN member countries.

Regarding Indonesia's ASEAN chairmanship, he said that Indonesia has been elected as the chair because it is considered capable of guiding the ASEAN community in dealing with issues faced in the region.

"Regarding the selection of which ASEAN member countries are eligible to be chosen as the host of the summit, it is always influenced by conditions or problems currently being faced by ASEAN," he said.

Kazuya gave an example of one of the problems currently being faced by ASEAN member countries, namely the problem of Myanmar, whose situation is considered to be increasingly worrying.

The issue is considered very serious because the response of ASEAN member countries to it has varied.

"I think Indonesia is able to guide the ASEAN community (on this issue)," he said.

Hence, to resolve problems in the region, it is deemed necessary for Indonesia to establish closer cooperation with other ASEAN member countries and related partner countries to find solutions together.

Like Indonesia, which hosted the ASEAN Summit, Japan also hosted the G7 Summit of seven countries with developed economies.

Kazuya said that Indonesia and Japan are both capable of guiding certain communities at the international level.

"Indonesia and Japan have been given a very good opportunity, including the choice of (the two countries) as the hosts for the summit," he added.

"Thus, Indonesia and Japan are considered as countries capable of leading the international community," he said. (Antaranews)