VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOInews, Jakarta: Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi met Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar during the Indonesia-Australia-India Trilateral meeting, in Jakarta, Wednesday (12/7).

"It is a pleasure to meet you again since our first Trilateral meeting in New York, September last year," Retno said.

Retno Marsudi said India, Australia and Indonesia have many similarities. According to her, all three countries are democratic and a positive force in respecting international law and maintaining stability.

"I really appreciate your support for ASEAN centrality and the implementation of the AOIP," she said.

Retno also said she looked forward to Australia and India's active participation in the ASEAN Indo-Pacific Infrastructure Forum to be held on the sidelines of the 43rd ASEAN Summit in September.

"Australia is a member of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) and all three of us are members of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA)," she said.

Retno said Indonesia as ASEAN Chair has received support from all member countries to form cooperation between regions. In this case, according to her, ASEAN will establish cooperation between secretariats, namely the ASEAN Secretariat and the PIF Secretariat and the ASEAN Secretariat and the IORA Secretariat.

"This is Indonesia's contribution to making the Indo-Pacific a peaceful and prosperous region, and involving partner countries in an inclusive manner.

Retno also expressed hope that the Indonesia-Australia and India Trilateral meeting could identify concrete ideas to enhance practical cooperation in a number of areas, including in the economic, maritime and food security fields. (VOI/Andy)

VOInews, Jakarta: Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi met Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar during the Indonesia-Australia-India Trilateral meeting, in Jakarta, Wednesday (12/7).

"It is a pleasure to meet you again since our first Trilateral meeting in New York, September last year," Retno said.

Retno Marsudi said India, Australia and Indonesia have many similarities. According to her, all three countries are democratic and a positive force in respecting international law and maintaining stability.

"I really appreciate your support for ASEAN centrality and the implementation of the AOIP," she said.

Retno also said she looked forward to Australia and India's active participation in the ASEAN Indo-Pacific Infrastructure Forum to be held on the sidelines of the 43rd ASEAN Summit in September.

"Australia is a member of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) and all three of us are members of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA)," she said.

Retno said Indonesia as ASEAN Chair has received support from all member countries to form cooperation between regions. In this case, according to her, ASEAN will establish cooperation between secretariats, namely the ASEAN Secretariat and the PIF Secretariat and the ASEAN Secretariat and the IORA Secretariat.

"This is Indonesia's contribution to making the Indo-Pacific a peaceful and prosperous region, and involving partner countries in an inclusive manner.

Retno also expressed hope that the Indonesia-Australia and India Trilateral meeting could identify concrete ideas to enhance practical cooperation in a number of areas, including in the economic, maritime and food security fields. (VOI/Andy)

ASEAN foreign ministers on Wednesday called for regional unity in addressing an intensifying conflict in Myanmar, amid doubts over the bloc's capability to implement a two-year-old peace process that has yet to get off the ground.

The gathering of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Jakarta comes as patience wears thin among its 10 members over Myanmar's military rulers' refusal to halt hostilities and start inclusive dialogue, as agreed to by its top general in April 2021.

Myanmar has been beset by fighting since the military seized power in early 2021 before unleashing a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy opponents, which prompted a wave of retaliatory attacks by a resistance movement and ethnic minority armies.

ASEAN chair Indonesia's Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said she and her counterparts discussed implementation of the "five-point consensus", which is the only diplomatic process in play for achieving peace in Myanmar, where the United Nations estimates 1.5 million people have been displaced.

All members emphasised unity on the issue, she said, adding, that "without cessation of violence, there would never be a conducive environment needed for the start of dialogue and the delivery of aid".

Retno's remarks come after a Thai-led meeting last month attended by Myanmar's military leaders who have been barred from high-level ASEAN meetings. Most ASEAN members shunned that meeting, which Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai defended, saying Thailand was suffering in terms of its border, trade and refugee problems.

On Wednesday, Don revealed he had met with ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been in detention since shortly after the 2021 coup and is currently appealing sentences of 33 years in jail.

Suu Kyi was in good health, he said, without providing further details.

The Thai foreign ministry said in a separate statement the two had a "private one-hour meeting".

Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi on Wednesday said the agreed peace plan should remain ASEAN's focus.

"Any other efforts must support the implementation of the five-point consensus," she said.

Rizal Sukma, an international relations expert at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Jakarta, said it was crucial that ASEAN stick with its plan.

"It provides legitimacy for ASEAN to get engaged in this issue, not to mention intervene," Sukma said.

"Without the five-point consensus, there is no basis for the intervention."

Indonesia is also working behind the scenes to kick-start the process by trying to bring all stakeholders together for talks.

Wednesday's retreat is also expected to discuss the protracted talks on an ASEAN-China code of conduct on the South China Sea, which started in 2017, 15 years after the idea was hatched.

China's coast guard has been accused by the Philippines of "aggressive acts" several times this year, while Vietnam has complained about a Chinese research ship and a flotilla of suspected militia lingering near its offshore energy projects.

China, which claims sovereignty over most of the South China Sea, maintains it is operating lawfully.

The Jakarta meetings come ahead of Friday's East Asia Summit and the ASEAN Regional Forum, with top diplomats of the United States, Russia and China among those attending. (Reuters)

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, attending a meeting of NATO leaders in Lithuania, said his nation would provide another 30 Bushmasters to Ukraine after a request for the protected vehicles, used to carry troops in frontline areas.

Albanese met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Wednesday, after speaking at a meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and its partners, including four Indo-Pacific countries.

"In today's interconnected world, Ukraine is not just fighting for its own national sovereignty, it is fighting for the international rule of law to be applied, and this is a struggle that has implications for the entire world," Albanese told reporters in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius on Wednesday.

The additional 30 Bushmasters, worth A$100 million ($67 million), brings a total of 120 protected vehicles supplied to Ukraine by Australia, one of the largest non-NATO contributors to the West's support for Ukraine.

The leaders of Australia, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand, who are NATO partners, joined the NATO meeting on Wednesday.

Beijing has said it opposed any attempt by the military alliance to expand its footprint into the Indo-Pacific region, and criticised NATO's accusation that China challenges the bloc's interests and security.

In a communique on Tuesday, NATO said China challenged its interests, security and values with its "ambitions and coercive policies".

"Australia is sending a strong message that we will push back against states seeking to change the international system by force," Albanese wrote on Twitter after his meeting with Zelenskiy.

A government review of Australia's defence forces in April said China was undertaking the largest military build-up of any country since the end of World War Two, "without transparency". (Reuters)