VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOINews, Jakarta - Head of the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) Laksana Tri Handoko has said that people's mobility between member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is relatively low.

Likewise, mobility between ASEAN countries and Japan has tended to decrease.

"This is the fact, unfortunately," Handoko said during a symposium on "Mobility among ASEAN and Japan: Its Future and How We Shape It," here on Tuesday.

The data is based on research conducted on people's mobility between ASEAN countries and between ASEAN countries and Japan in recent years, he informed.

In comparison, people’s mobility between ASEAN countries and other regions in the world has tended to be higher, he noted.

The mobility data was issued to mark Indonesia's chairmanship of ASEAN this year and also 50 years of ASEAN-Japan friendship and cooperation.

In an effort to make ASEAN a center of global growth, Indonesia is encouraging ASEAN countries to open their borders further to increase mobility between member nations and with partner countries, including Japan.

However, such a step will pose a number of challenges, such as human trafficking and the traffic of illegal goods.

"I think we have to take this issue seriously in order to strengthen further cooperation among ASEAN countries, and especially between ASEAN and Japan," said Handoko.

As one of the countries with the largest populations in ASEAN, Indonesia needs to contribute to increasing mobility among ASEAN countries, Handoko said.

At the same time, it also needs to provide solutions to emerging challenges, he added.

Hence, discussions need to be held to find solutions to these problems so that efforts to realize ASEAN as a global growth hub can be made by increasing people’s mobility within ASEAN and to countries in other regions, including Japan, he said.

"So, this study symposium is expected to be able to find solutions to issues that arise from mobility among ASEAN people," he added.

"It is also hoped that this will not only expand existing cooperation, but also provide alternative solutions on how we can overcome problems that may arise along with people's mobility," he said. (Antaranews)