At the Jakarta Geopolitical Forum 2018 here on Wednesday, Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi explained that Indonesia always strives to be part of the world peace by bridging all conflicting interests and alleviating tensions to strengthen the ecosystem of peace, stability, and prosperity, including in the ASEAN region.
"Indonesia`s humanitarian and peace diplomacy has become one of the cornerstones of foreign policy that is appreciated globally. We will continue to use this spirit to turn geopolitical competition into collaboration," Marsudi stated.
She asserted that Indonesia would maximize its role as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for the period 2019-2020 to apply dialogue as a culture among the UN members and strengthen collaboration between the United Nations and other regional organizations.
Regarding protectionism today, Indonesia calls for open, fair, and mutually beneficial economic cooperation by intensifying efforts to negotiate free trade agreements, preferential trade agreements, and comprehensive economic partnership agreements.
Indonesia has also collaborated with Germany and Tunisia in organizing the Bali Democracy Forum Chapter Berlin and Chapter Tunis with an aim to exchange lessons and practices on democracy in the hope of reducing tensions due to intolerance.
However, Marsudi stressed that Indonesia cannot achieve such a goal without collective efforts and global leadership.
Amid global uncertainty, trade war between the US and China, developments in the European Union due to Brexit (Britain Exit), and the rise of unilateralism, cooperation between countries is the best option that can be taken.
Earlier, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi), in his speech at the IMF-WB Annual Meeting in Bali on Oct 12, 2018, explained that the weak cooperation and coordination had led to many problems, such as rising crude oil prices and chaos in the currency markets in developing countries.
In the midst of global rivalry and competition, Jokowi stressed that there was no meaning to victory celebrated in the middle of destruction or becoming the largest economic power when the world is sinking.
"Indonesia always sees cooperation better than rivalry by promoting a mutually beneficial approach. This is what we convey in ASEAN, IORA, APEC, G20, and other international forums," Marsudi explained.
Indonesia will continue to prioritize the principles of security and prosperity in implementing the geopolitical strategy in the future, she added.
"And with good cooperation and strong global leadership, I believe that our hope for a better world is very relevant," she revealed.
Reporting by Yashinta Difa Pramudyani
Editing by Libertina W Ambari
Reporter: Antara
Editor: Yosep Hariyadi
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
