Indonesia will not tolerate the violation of those principles by another party."Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesias diplomacy in the next five years will focus on maintaining sovereignty, enhancing the protection of its citizens, and intensifying economic diplomacy, stated Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno LP Marsudi.
In the annual press statement of the Foreign Affairs Ministry released here on Thursday, Minister Retno remarked the three points were in line with President Joko Widodo (Jokowi)s vision to restore Indonesias greatness as a maritime nation.
"According to the vision and mission of President Jokowi, Indonesias foreign policy in the next five years will be based on these priorities," she noted.
At the ninth East Asia Summit in Nay Pyi Daw, Myanmar, in November 2014, President Jokowi had conveyed his vision for Indonesia as a maritime fulcrum with five main pillars, namely cultivating maritime culture, preserving and managing maritime resources, developing maritime infrastructure and connectivity, maritime cooperation through diplomacy, and building strong maritime defense.
In order to maintain Indonesias sovereignty, Marsudi explained that diplomacy will work to protect the countrys territorial sovereignty and its international interactions will be based on the principle of mutual respect for territorial sovereignty.
"Indonesia will not tolerate the violation of those principles by another party," she remarked.
To ensure the sovereignty of its people, Indonesia will also increase its presence in border areas and enhance the protection of its nationals and legal entities, including migrant workers.
Thus, Marsudi emphasized, Indonesia will send its migrant workers to a country only if it has a legislation that guarantees the protection of foreign migrant workers and/or if Indonesia has a bilateral agreement about migrant workers with the destination country.
"Indonesia has been pushing for an ASEAN legal instrument for the protection of migrant workers. This is in line with the ASEANs vision to establish a caring community," she said.
With regard to the efforts to increase citizens protection, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has signed a cooperation treaty with the Ministry of Communication and Informatics, and five national telecommunication enterprises for providing hot lines for reaching Indonesian representatives overseas.
On intensifying economic diplomacy, Minister Marsudi observed that the Indonesian government is determined and committed to enforce laws and regulations in its seas to eradicate illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
"Such illegal activities have been committed in Indonesian waters for far too long. Illegal fishing must be stopped. Indonesia is ready to cooperate with other countries for eradicating IUU fishing," she emphasized.
The government will also finalize a draft Bilateral Investment Treaty for creating a new regime for investment agreements between Indonesia and other countries that will support the commitment of President Jokowi to simplify permit processes through a one-stop service for investments.
"This will surely attract foreign investors to Indonesia," she noted.
Minister Marsudi added that Indonesian diplomats will be asked to become the marketers of Indonesia and intensify their efforts through an "economic diplomacy task force" that will be coordinated by Deputy Minister AM Fachir.
"In order to understand the market where they are deployed, Indonesian diplomats will have to go to the field," she noted.
(Uu.A060/INE/KR-BSR/A014)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
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