VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

President Joko Widodo (fifth from the right) at the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit reception at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Center (MCEC) on Tuesday (March 5, 2024). (ANTARA/Presidential Secretariat) - 

VOInews, Australia - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has reaffirmed Indonesia's solidarity with Palestine and called for an end to the genocide in the Gaza Strip during the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit in Melbourne on March 4-6.

"The president reiterated the importance of the ceasefire and called for continued support to UNRWA (the UN agency for Palestinian refugees)," Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi stated in a press statement on Wednesday.

In the second session of the summit, themed "Our Vision for the Region and Addressing Shared Challenges," Jokowi also emphasized the importance of ASEAN and Australia continuing to respect international law.

"Rule-based order must be enforced without double standards, and no country should be above the law," Marsudi said, referring to Jokowi's statement.

Regarding the geopolitical situation, Jokowi encouraged ASEAN and Australia to continue to strengthen the spirit and paradigm of cooperation to prevent a decline in trust.

"Inclusive cooperation is very important to create strategic trust. The president also hoped that Australia could become a bridge for ASEAN cooperation with the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) and with IORA (Indian Ocean Rim Association)," Marsudi remarked.

The ASEAN-Australia Special Summit was held to commemorate 50 years of partnership between the two. Australia is ASEAN's first dialogue partner and the first partner in the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

ASEAN, or the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which was established on August 8, 1967, currently has 10 official member countries, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Brunei Darussalam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Vietnam.

ASEAN, in principle, admitted Timor-Leste as its 11th member and allowed the country to attend all its meetings, including at the head of state and government level//(ANTARA-VOI)

President Joko Widodo and Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi in the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit in Melbourne, on March 3, 2024. (ANTARA/Presidential Secretariat) - 

VOInews, Australia - Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi stated that the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit resulted in two documents, namely the Melbourne Declaration and the ASEAN-Australia Leaders Vision Statement.

"The Melbourne Declaration contains the direction of cooperation in the political-security, economic, and socio-cultural sectors going forward," Marsudi noted in a transcript of her press statement regarding the summit, as received here on Wednesday.

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) attended the summit that took place in Melbourne on March 4-6.

Meanwhile, the ASEAN-Australia Leaders Vision Statement is aimed at facing geopolitical, geostrategic, and geoeconomic challenges. The event was held to commemorate 50 years of ASEAN's partnership with Australia, and the theme of the summit was "A Partnership for the Future."

The summit was divided into two sessions, with the first session being the "Future ASEAN-Australia Cooperation" discussion, while the second one was "The Three ASEAN Cooperation Pillars".

Marsudi explained that last year, Australia had released its economic strategy document for Southeast Asia. The document was created by Australia's Special Envoy for Southeast Asia Nicholas Moore.

"The point of Moore's report is Australia's new approach to increase trade and investment with Southeast Asia," she stated.

Australia views Southeast Asia as a highly potential region, with high economic growth, geographical proximity, and economic complementarity, she explained.

"It is part of Australia's efforts to diversify the economy," she added.

Four major objectives in the report are raising awareness, removing blockages, building capacities, and deepening investment.

The 10 priority sectors for the Australia and Southeast Asia cooperation are agriculture and food, natural resources, clean energy transition, infrastructure, education and skills, tourism, health, digital economy, professional and financial services, and creative industries.

"Australia also launched the ASEAN-Australia Center, which is a form of support for the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP)," Marsudi stated//(ANTARA-VOI)

Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to Indonesia, Faishal Abdullah el-Amudi accompanied by Chairman of Baznas, Noor Ahmad releasing humanitarian aid to West Java (Photo : Daniel-VOI) - 

VOInews, Jakarta - Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to Indonesia, Faishal Abdullah el-Amudi, released food package assistance for Indonesia on Tuesday (5/3). The program was initiated by the King Salman Center for Social and Humanitarian Assistance - KSrelief in collaboration with the National Zakat Agency - Baznas.

The assistance consisted of 7,965 packages of food necessities worth Rp1 million for each package and was distributed in Jakarta, Banten, West Java, and Central Java.

"The assistance distributed by KSrelief for this humanitarian action is part of the direction of King Salman's government, Servant of the Two Holy Mosques, especially to help people in need ahead of the blessed month of Ramadan", Ambassador el-Amudi said. 

On the same occasion, Chairman of Baznas, Noor Ahmad stated that the program was the third aid done in collaboration with Baznas and the KSrelief. Apart from food aid packages, KSrelief also donated 200 kg of dates and 400 copies of the Islamic holy book Al-Quran with Braille alphabet//(VOI/Daniel)

Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese receive Indonesian President Joko Widodo at the ASEAN-AUSTRALIA Summit 2024 in Melbourne, Australia (Photo : Setpres) -

VOInews, Australia - Indonesian President, Joko Widodo met Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Center (MCEC) in Melbourne, Australia on Tuesday (5/3). At the meeting, he emphasized the commitment of Indonesia and Australia to strengthen strategic cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region.

President Joko Widodo also invited Prime Minister Albanese to strengthen cooperation to improve diplomatic relations, which have lasted for 75 years.

“Prime Minister Albanese, I am pleased to be able to visit Australia again. Australia is a strategic partner of Indonesia and ASEAN in the Indo-Pacific region, a region where we share the future and joint responsibility for maintaining stability. And in our 75th year of diplomatic relations/let us strengthen cooperation and collaboration.”

President Joko Widodo conveyed four main points to strengthen bilateral cooperation between Indonesia and Australia, including the importance of cooperation in the financial services sector and announcing plans to open a State Bank of Indonesia - BNI representative office in Sydney.

President Joko Widodo also highlighted the importance of expanding market access to create a more balanced trade//VOI