Jakarta (ANTARA) - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) on Monday met with President of World Bank Ajay Banga and Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Kristalina Georgieva in Jakarta, ahead of the 43rd ASEAN Summit.

Banga arrived at the Merdeka Palace at 2:15 p.m. (7:15 a.m. GMT) in a formal suit. Georgieva arrived half an hour later, wearing batik clothing. Jokowi held separate meetings with the two figures at the palace.

During his meeting with the World Bank's leader, Jokowi was accompanied by State Secretary Minister Pratikno, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani, and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Pahala Mansury.

Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi joined Mulyani and Pratikno during the president's meeting with IMF's Georgieva.

Apart from meeting with Banga and Georgieva, Jokowi is scheduled to attend a meeting with Klaus Schwab, Chairman of the World Economic Forum (WEF).

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The president will hold a series of bilateral meetings with several heads of state before and during the 43rd ASEAN Summit that will be held on September 5-7 in Jakarta, under Indonesia's chairmanship in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) this year.

Under its chairmanship theme of "ASEAN Matters: Epicentrum of Growth," Indonesia is striving to retain ASEAN's relevance in the global arena, ensuring that the bloc will be capable of facing challenges ahead as well as promoting and preserving regional stability and peace.

Indonesia is also committed to leading ASEAN countries to further strengthen concrete cooperation agreements and ensure their implementation, in the hopes of making the Southeast Asian region as the center of economic, political, and socio-cultural growth.

The 43rd ASEAN Summit will serve as the second summit to be held this year, following the 42nd summit held in Labuan Bajo, East Nusa Tenggara, in May, where the bloc's leaders issued several declarations.

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Translator: Indra Arief, Tegar Nurfitra
Editor: Anton Santoso
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