VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOInews, Jakarta: Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said that the current world situation is still filled with high rivalry, including the conflict in Ukraine. According to her, this condition has impacted the atmosphere of discussion in all multilateral and international forums. Therefore, according to her, ASEAN has an increasingly important role to play in its centrality.

"In such a situation, it becomes even more important for ASEAN to strengthen its solidity and unity in order to continue to play its centrality," Retno said in a statement delivered in Jakarta, Friday (7/7).

Indonesia will host the ASEAN Ministerial Meetings/Post Ministerial Conference (AMM/PMC) on July 11-14. According to Retno, AMM/PMC is one of the ASEAN mechanisms that has an important role as a driver of world peace based on the principles of the UN Charter, ASEAN Charter, and International Law.

In this regard, Retno Marsudi explained, to maintain stability, peace, and regional economic resilience, the AMM/PMC meeting will emphasize efforts to uphold the principles in the ASEAN Charter to strengthen preventive diplomacy.

"First, strengthening the enforcement of the principles in the ASEAN Charter and various codes of conduct such as the TAC, SEANWFZ, and AOIP in order to create regional peace, security, stability, and prosperity," Retno said.

In addition, according to her, the AMM/PMC meeting will also be utilized to strengthen efforts to overcome, prevent and resolve problems between countries (CBM) and preventive diplomacy.

"In this regard, I will encourage the mechanism of China, Japan, South Korea to be revitalized. This mechanism is very important for regional stability and prosperity," she said.

Retno further added, the AMM/PMC meeting will also encourage Nuclear Weapon States (NWS) to access the Protocol to the Southeast Asian Nuclear Weapon Free Zone (SEANWFZ) Treaty, finalize Guidelines to accelerate the completion of Code of Conducts negotiations in the South China Sea and complete the establishment of the ASEAN Maritime Outlook.

"This Outlook will be a very strategic document to strengthen synergy and avoid duplication of maritime cooperation, which has been carried out by ASEAN sectoral bodies and as a reference for partner countries in maritime cooperation with ASEAN," she said.

Retno also said that the AMM/PMC will also discuss concrete cooperation in order to strengthen food security, regional health architecture, strengthen maritime cooperation and energy transition including the electric vehicle ecosystem.

"The results of the discussion of these various issues will be submitted to the 43rd Summit in September," she said.

At the 56th AMM/PMC meeting in 2023, for the first time, the implementation of the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP) was also mainstreamed in talks with partner countries, with a focus on discussing concrete cooperation. According to Retno, the main principle of the AOIP is inclusiveness and building concrete cooperation.

"Therefore, ASEAN is ready to cooperate with any partner in the context of implementing the AOIP and this is reflected in various ASEAN documents with partners, both at the political level and technical level such as making concrete cooperation," she added.

In the 56th AMM/PMC, ASEAN will also strengthen relations with the Indian Ocean Association of Coastal States (IORA) and the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF).

"Engagement with IORA and PIF will be done at the September Summit. The MoU roadmap for secretariat cooperation between the ASEAN Secretariat and the PIF Secretariat continues to be finalized," Retno said.

Retno Marsudi also conveyed Indonesia's commitment as the host of the AMM/PMC and Chair of ASEAN. According to her, Indonesia will do its best so that the dialog and discussion during the AMM/PMC will be constructive.

"Indonesia is ready to bridge all differences that arise and we are ready to try so that the discussion can produce concrete cooperation that will be brought to the 43rd Summit in September. Of course, the support of ASEAN member states and ASEAN partner countries is highly expected," she concluded. (VOI/Andy)

VOInews, Jakarta: Indonesia, as Chair of ASEAN 2023, will hold a series of ASEAN Ministerial Meeting/Post Ministerial Conference (AMM/PMC) meetings in Jakarta on July 11-14. Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said the activity would be attended by 29 countries, the ASEAN Secretariat and the European Union.

"The attendance level at the Foreign Ministerial level is very high, regardless a few days before the meeting, there will be a NATO Ministerial meeting in Vilnius (Lithuania)," Retno said in a statement delivered in Jakarta, Friday (7/7).

As of Friday, 1,165 delegates and 493 journalists will attend the AMM/PMC series. Retno said that in the four-day meeting, 18 meetings and two trilateral meetings will be held.

"But of course, this number will continue to move, adjusted to the dynamics in the field and time allocation," she said.

The series of AMM/PMC meetings will begin with technical level meetings at the senior officials (SOM) and committee of state representatives (CPR) levels. According to Retno, from the entire meeting, the AMM/PMC will produce 12 documents as a result of the series of meetings.

"Negotiations are still ongoing until now and will certainly continue until the meeting takes place, including the Joint Communique of ASEAN Foreign Ministers reflecting various developments in ASEAN cooperation during the year, priorities for future cooperation and regional and global issues of concern to ASEAN," she explained. (VOI/Andy)

The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in the Hague rejected on Thursday India's objections to a Pakistan-initiated procedure over water use in the Indus River basin, reopening a procedure that had been blocked for many years.

India called the arbitration proceeding illegal as a neutral expert was also looking at the issue and the World Bank-brokered treaty prohibits parallel proceedings.

The South Asian neighbours have been arguing over hydroelectric projects on the shared Indus River and its tributaries for decades, with Pakistan complaining that India's planned hydropower dams in upstream areas will cut flows on the river which feeds 80% of its irrigated agriculture.

To resolve the dispute, Pakistan sought resolution through PCA arbitration proceedings in 2016, prompting India to request that the World Bank appoint a neutral expert under the terms of the treaty. India has boycotted The Hague court proceedings and questioned the competence of the court.

"In a unanimous decision, which is binding on the Parties and without appeal, the Court rejected each of the objections raised by India and determined that the Court is competent to consider and determine the disputes set forth in Pakistan's Request for Arbitration," the court said in a statement.

It gave no details on when and how the case will continue, but added that it will address the interpretation and application of the bilateral Indus Water Treaty, notably the provisions on hydro-electric projects, as well as the legal effect of past decisions of dispute resolution bodies under the Treaty.

A spokesperson for India's foreign ministry, Arindam Bagchi, said India's "consistent and principled position has been that the constitution of this so-called court of arbitration is in contravention of the clear letter and spirit of the Indus Water Treaty".

He said India was participating in the proceedings of the neutral expert, which he called "the only treaty-consistent proceedings at this juncture".

"Legal sophistry" will not compel India to participate in the proceedings of the PCA, Bagchi said.

India says the construction of its Kishanganga and Ratle Hydro Electric projects is allowed by the treaty.

Pakistan's Foreign Office said that it remained fully committed to the implementation of the Indus Water Treaty and its settlement mechanism, which it termed a "foundational agreement" between the two countries.

"We hope that India would also implement the Treaty in good faith," Foreign Office spokeswoman Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said in a statement on Thursday night. (Reuters)

Japan lodged a protest with South Korea over military drills it conducted on disputed islands, saying it was "extremely regrettable", the foreign ministry said in a statement issued on Friday.

The foreign ministry said it summoned a senior diplomat at the South Korean embassy in Tokyo, and the Japanese embassy in Seoul also summoned a senior South Korea official to make the protest.

"Takeshima is indisputably an inherent territory of Japan, in light of historical facts and based on international law," the ministry said in the statement.

"The drills by the South Korean military are unacceptable and extremely regrettable."

The two nations have long been at loggerheads over the sovereignty of the group of islets called Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in Korea, which lie about halfway between the East Asian neighbours in the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea.

"The East Sea territory defence exercise was carried out to conduct our mission to protect our territory, people and property," a South Korean military official said.

The South Korean military has conducted the military drill routinely every year, the official added. (Reuters)