"The 4th Asia-Europe Meeting will take place at the Westin Hotel in Nusa Dua, Bali, from Sept 26 to 28. We have invited 51 ASEM member countries to attend the meeting, and 39 Asian and European countries and two international organizations have confirmed their attendance," he stated in a press conference here on Monday.
He noted that 18 transportation ministers from six European countries, including Britain, Russia, Latvia, Hungary, Luxembourg, and Poland, and 12 Asian countries, including Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Myanmar, Laos, Mongolia, Cambodia, Japan, China, Korea, India, and Brunei Darussalam, will attend the meeting.
The delegates of the two international organizations, who will attend the meeting, will be the European Commissioner for Mobility and Transport and the ASEAN Deputy Secretary General, he added.
He remarked that President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has given directives for the international event to be used as a means to introduce and promote the countrys potentials.
"Mr. Jokowi has given directives on the optimum use of the ASEM-TMM to attract investors to invest in Indonesia," he explained.
"ASEM is a strategic forum to intensify Asian-European cooperation. This is Indonesias effort to attract investors so that investment will increase and inflation rate can be kept down. I have the initiative to turn it not only into a mere meeting but also into a business meeting," he asserted.
The ASEM-TMM will also serve as a means to promote the tourism sector in Bali, he stated.
"The other benefit of organizing the ASEM-TMM is that it will contribute to the economy of Balinese community from the tourism sector," he reiterated.
The meeting will discuss a number of issues related to connectivity, investment, and other strategic issues in the two continents. (*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
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