VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOINews, Jakarta - Serbia, Panama, and Kuwait have expressed their readiness to sign the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC) with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Jakarta on Monday.

According to the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), the three countries will sign the treaty on the sidelines of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting (AMM) at the Secretariat of ASEAN in Jakarta on Monday.

The AMM serves as the side activity for the upcoming 43rd ASEAN Summit, scheduled to take place in Jakarta on September 5-7, under the chairmanship of Indonesia in the regional bloc this year.

Under its chairmanship theme of "ASEAN Matters: Epicentrum of Growth," Indonesia is making utmost efforts to achieve and retain the bloc's position as the center of economic, political, and socio-cultural growth.

The MFA reported that the TAC will be signed by Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Ivica Dacic, Panamanian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Franco, and Kuwaiti Foreign Affairs Deputy Minister Sheikh Jarrah Jaber Al-Ahmad Aljaber Al-Sabah.

With the three countries joining the treaty, the ASEAN will have a total of 54 countries as the parties to its TAC. Earlier, at the 56th AMM in July in Jakarta, Saudi Arabia became the 51st country to sign the treaty.

The TAC, established in 1976, constitutes a pact that promotes the adoption of the principle of non-aggression by the member countries of ASEAN and partner countries of the Southeast Asian bloc.

The treaty is expected to encourage its signatories to endorse peace, amity, and cooperation among Southeast Asian Nations and their partners in the hopes of further bolstering the region's strength, solidarity, and friendly ties.

By going forward with the treaty's accession, countries need to ensure that their acts abide by the very principles of freedom and sovereignty while placing genuine respect to the territorial integrity and national identity of all countries.

Countries that are party to the treaty should also respect the right of every country to defend their national stance and refrain from intervening, invading, and coercing as well as prioritizing peaceful methods of conflict settlement. (Antaranews)

VOINews, Jakarta - Coordinating Economic Affairs Minister Airlangga Hartarto, at the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit (ABIS) 2023, here on Sunday (September 3), underscored the need for ASEAN to work together in carbon trading in order to anticipate climate change.

"It is important that all ASEAN (member countries) work together because the climate fund as well as carbon trading is very important for the future of sustainability," he affirmed.

ABIS, held on September 3-4 in Jakarta, is a side event of the upcoming 43rd ASEAN Summit that will take place in Jakarta on September 5-7 under Indonesia's chairmanship.

Indonesia is holding the ASEAN chairmanship in 2023 with the theme of "ASEAN Matters: Epicentrum of Growth." The vision of Indonesia's chairmanship, among others, is to build a resilient, adaptive, and inclusive ASEAN.

Hartarto noted that Singapore and Malaysia are working on different systems of carbon trading.

As for Indonesia, through the Financial Services Authority (OJK), it is also developing a policy regarding carbon exchange as stipulated in OJK Regulation Number 14 of 2023 on Carbon Trading through the Carbon Exchange.

In this context, ASEAN countries can cooperate for carbon trading.

"We do not want ASEAN to be divided and conquered by other green financing globally. We (Indonesia) need a collaboration with other ASEAN countries," he remarked.

The minister further stated that the ASEAN needs to optimize the private sector, resources, networks, and technology to seek solutions for socioeconomic and climate change challenges.

On that occasion, he also underlined the importance of strengthening the private sector's role in reducing geopolitical fragmentation risks.

This can be achieved through the collaboration of the public and private sector in the development of an open, non-discriminatory, and rule-based multilateral economic architecture, he explained.

He underscored the need for the private sector to seize the new growth opportunity.

ASEAN's private sector is also encouraged to work together with other business councils to explore potential areas for collaboration.

He also stated that the ASEAN private sector should maximize local economic linkages and engage micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs). (Antaranews)

VOINews, Jakarta - Indonesia is a leading country in food security in the ASEAN region, Head of the National Food Agency (NFA) Arief Prasetyo Adi said at the ASEAN Business & Investment Summit (ABIS) here on Sunday.

"We can be relied upon for the food sector in the ASEAN region," Adi said.

He said Indonesia has raised several issues that become concerns at the regional level, for instance, food security.

The ABIS is a sideline event of Indonesia's 2023 ASEAN Chairmanship's ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ASEAN-BAC) and is currently hosted by the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) on September 3-4, 2023.

To achieve the goal of food security, ASEAN-BAC this year created a single narrative that includes commodity profiling, commodity balance sheet, key success factors and roadmap, and key policies to address food security.

In this regard, the Indonesian Government has allocated Rp108.8 trillion (US$7.1 billion) in the 2024 State Budget Draft (RAPBN).

Some Rp89.6 trillion (US$5.8 billion) is for the central government's spending, and the rest Rp19.2 trillion (US$1.3 billion) is for regional governments.

Adi explained, apart from the Ministry of Agriculture, other ministries are also involved in food security efforts, in terms of infrastructure, social and food assistance, food reserves, to cheap interests for funding.

"It (budget for food security) has been prepared, just (waiting for) execution," he said.

In addition, he believed that Indonesia has more abundant food commodities compared to other ASEAN countries.

He mentioned that Indonesia together with Vietnam and Thailand have agreed to strengthen regional food cooperation, with Myanmar likely to participate in the regional food cooperation soon.

However, among these countries, he said, Indonesia has better food commodities.

"Food in Thailand and Vietnam is surplus, but their productions are still below ours. Indonesia has entered the top four, along with China, India, and Bangladesh," he said.

Food security was also one of the issues discussed at the 10th Meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (AFMGM).

ASEAN finance ministers and central bank governors have expressed their commitment to strengthening fiscal collaboration to boost the region's food security. (Antaranews)

VOINews, Jakarta - ASEAN member countries need to collaborate to maximize investment potential in the region which is estimated to reach US$20 trillion by 2045, Chairman of the ASEAN-Business Advisory Council (ASEAN-BAC) Arsjad Rasjid said.

"With ASEAN's epicentrum of growth, we can realize the investment potential (reaching) US$20 trillion by 2045. This is a tremendous potential," he said at the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit (ABIS) here on Sunday.

This year's ASEAN-BAC series, held on September 1-8, carries the theme "ASEAN Centrality: Innovating to Greater Inclusivity". It is part of Indonesia's ASEAN Chairmanship in 2023, which is focusing on ASEAN development to become a fast-growing, inclusive, and sustainable economic region.

Through ASEAN-BAC, Rasjid said, Indonesia encourages the formation of a solid business ecosystem within the region, so that all member countries can grow together.

According to him, in the past, many parties were pessimistic over ASEAN's move as a regional organization.

However, he argued, amid the increasingly tense geopolitical and geoeconomic challenges, ASEAN can remain resilient and is seizing the opportunity to become the center of global economic growth.

He also emphasized that the vision of ASEAN Centrality is not just about being in the strategic geographical position but also how to reconstructing the mindset of growing together.

Rasjid also talked about his trip around the regional bloc's member countries to find solutions on how businesses in the region can grow.

"From the interactions (with ASEAN business players), we gathered all aspirations on how ASEAN should progress. Everything translates into policy recommendations," he said.

The policy recommendations had been conveyed to President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) as the Chair of the 2023 ASEAN Chairmanship on September 1 at the Presidential Palace.

"President Jokowi supports our vision of a unified ASEAN where the public and private sectors work closely to develop our region," he said. (Antaranews)