VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Ten heads of state or heads of government of ASEAN member countries are scheduled to hold an ASEAN Leaders Gathering meeting on the sidelines of the Annual Meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank or the World Bank Group (IMF-WBG) in Nusa Dua, Bali. The meeting is scheduled to be held on October 11, 2018 and specifically will discuss efforts to increase ASEAN synergy with international efforts related to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and ASEAN 2025 Vision. Indonesian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir in media briefing in Jakarta, Thursday, October 4 2018 said United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, and International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund will attend the meeting.

 

"It is deliberately held back to back with the IMF-World Bank Annual Meeting. Well, the IMF World Bank is actually a ministerial level meeting. However, for this time Indonesia has invited 10 ASEAN countries led by the heads of state and the heads of government to be present at this meeting. The main objective of the ASEAN Leaders Gathering meeting is to take advantage of the presence of the UN Secretary General, the President of the World Bank and the Managing Director of the IMF to discuss and enhance synergies related to the sustainable development of ASEAN countries as well as international efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. The theme of the meeting was Achieving SDGs and Overcoming Development Goals Through Regional and Global Collaborative Action," said Armanatha Nasir. 

Arrmanatha further explained that the meeting initiated by Indonesia would also try to discuss measures to strengthen stability, integration and accelerate economic development in the Southeast Asian region. This meeting will also be used by ASEAN to demonstrate the successful development of ASEAN member countries in the past 50 years. Arrmanatha said that ASEAN today is an area with Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 2.5 trillion US dollars. The GDP has managed to put ASEAN as a region with the sixth largest economy in the world and third in Asia with an average growth of 4.8 percent or above the world average growth. According to Arrmanatha, ASEAN is currently working to maintain stable growth and ensure fair growth, maintain growth and resilience in the context of the economy. (VOI/Rezha/AHM)