"ASEAN has given both Indonesia and Laos membership to the APPF Executive Committee until 2019," said Vice Chairman of the House of Representatives Fadli Zon in a press release on Monday.
The lawmaker added that this responsibility was given to Indonesia during an internal meeting of the ASEAN parliament on Sunday, January 15.
The Indonesian delegation that attended the meeting included Fadli Zon and Rahayu Saraswati Djojohadikusomo from the Gerindra Party faction, Nurhayati Ali Assegaf and Sartono Hutomo from the Democratic Party faction, Yoseph Umar Hadi from the PDIP Party faction, Dwi Aroem Hadiatie from the Golkar Party faction and Desy Ratnasari from the PAN Party faction.
The 25th APPF meeting will primarily discuss peace and security in the Asia Pacific region.
While there is turmoil in the Korean peninsula and the South China Sea, the former being related to the nuclear issue, Zon noted that "the Asia Pacific Region is generally stable".
In order to build regional stability, he added that cooperation and mutual trust should be established among the countries of the region and conflicts must be settled peacefully.
"The trust should be built through open and fair dialogue," he emphasized.
According to Zon, the APPF is one of the important diplomatic forums to address conflicts in the region.
"During the conference, the Indonesian government encouraged the parliament of Myanmar to address the humanitarian crisis in the Rohingya peacefully and wisely," he added.
He also revealed that Indonesia also voiced the importance of addressing the humanitarian crisis in both Palestine and Syria.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
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