"To give the government a much greater maneuvering policy room in navigating health and economic challenges, we integrated health and economic policies under one coordination of the COVID-19 Handling Committee and Economic Recovery (PC-PEN) in July 2020," Minister Airlangga Hartarto noted in an official statement here on Tuesday.
The PC-PEN Committee then designs and implements a “brake and gas” policy to keep the lives of the entire community in balance.
This policy was successfully demonstrated by a significant decrease in COVID-19 cases and economic conditions that earlier contracted, then rose, and recorded impressive growth.
"Indonesia has been recognized as one of the top five countries in the world, with the highest vaccination rate. We have also administered more than 430 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine," Minister Hartarto remarked.
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To provide greater resilience in the face of COVID-19, the government has also conducted domestic structural reforms through economic reforms, such as the Omnibus Law, or better known as the Job Creation Law.
These reform efforts then pushed and influenced more than 70 laws in 11 economic clusters, including those related to labor regulations, licensing processes, and investment approval processes.
Although the world is currently facing a food, energy, and financial crisis, Indonesia's success in dealing with the pandemic and economic recovery has also received international recognition.
"To respond to the global crisis, the UN Secretariat General has urged the President of Indonesia along with five other heads of state and government to join The Champions Group of Global Crisis of Response Group (GCRG)," Minister Hartarto stated.
The minister also highlighted various potentials, strategies, and challenges facing the ASEAN today while expressing hope that in future, the ASEAN would play an important role in the global economy.
"To maximize this enormous growth potential, I would like to emphasize that the ASEAN must remain united in the face of internal conflicts and external pressures and carry out the necessary reforms to remove all obstacles to regional economic growth,” according to Minister Hartarto.
Related news: US affirms support for Indonesia's COVID-handling efforts
Translator: Katriana
Editor: Suharto
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