VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOINews, Jakarta - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs held the 8th Plenary Meeting of the Indonesia-United Nations Consultative Forum (IUNCF) (31/10).

"Transparent and inclusive communication is needed so that UN agency programs are aligned with the priorities of the Indonesian Government," said Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi in a pre-recorded opening speech.

On the occasion, the Indonesian Foreign Minister also expressed her concern about the situation in Gaza and encouraged the UN Security Council to take immediate action.

The 8th IUNCF Plenary was chaired by the Director General for Multilateral Cooperation and the UN Resident Coordinator as Co-Chairs.

In his opening remarks, the Director General of Multilateral Cooperation appreciated Indonesia's achievement in meeting 63% of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) target and encouraged cooperation between the Government of Indonesia and the UN to increase this figure.

The Plenary activity consists of two sessions, namely the Working Group I on Information Sharing and Cooperation Development (WG I) and Working Group II on Administration (WG II) report sessions, and Thematic Discussion sessions.

In 2023, two WG I meetings were held to discuss GoI-UN cooperation within the framework of Indonesia's ASEAN Chairmanship (February 9, 2023) and cooperation in the context of cultural protection (October 5, 2023).

Meanwhile, WG II meetings have discussed a number of administrative issues such as Host Country Agreement (HCA), consular facilities, taxation and customs, as well as technical aspects of diplomatic vehicles.

In the second session, the forum discussed the theme "Multilateralism in Achieving Blue Agenda's Commitment," which is relevant to be discussed after the 1st High Level Meeting of the AIS Forum in Bali on October 11, 2023.

UN RC stated that as the largest archipelago in the world, Indonesia has the potential to lead the Blue Agenda discussion at the global level.

The session also emphasized that multilateralism is a key approach in advancing this issue, which also requires close cooperation between Indonesia and the UN.

In the discussion session, the Plenary participants consisting of representatives of Ministries/Agencies and UN Agencies further agreed on the importance of intensifying routine coordination between the Indonesian Government and the UN, as well as strengthening UN cooperation with the ASEAN Secretariat.

This year marks a decade since IUNCF was first held in 2013.

In ten years, IUNCF has played an important role as a regular consultation forum that strengthens coordination between Indonesian Ministries/Agencies and UN Agencies. (Ministry of Foreign Affairs)