President Jokowi Meets ASEAN Foreign Ministers at Merdeka Palace

President Joko Widodo had a courtesy call from ASEAN Foreign Ministers and ASEAN Secretary General, marking the opening of ASEAN Foreign Ministers meeting, that is held in Jakarta, under the chairmanship of Indonesia, Friday (3/2/2023).

Foreign Ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian nations are meeting in Indonesia, on Friday and Saturday. As the first ministerial meeting this year under Indonesia's chairmanship.

President Jokowi reiterated that ASEAN must become an epicentrum of growth or economic growth in the midst of gloomy economic projections, by maitaing peace and stability of the region, according to Indonesian Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, after the meeting with the president.

The president also underlined that the regional bloc must uphold five-point of consensus as the main mechanism in dealing with Myanmar issues. Myanmar is an ASEAN member country, who had agreed with ASEAN to implement five-point consensus to solve its domestic political problems. The agreement was reached shortly after the country's military took over power from elected-democracy party, led by Aug San-Suu Kyi, who is now serving years of imprisonment under the military ruler.

President Jokowi warned that ASEAN should not become a proxy for any side, so the regional group must keep its centrality and unity as main priorities. In the courtesy call, the new ASEAN Secretary general, Kao Kim Hourn, from Cambodia, was introduced to the president.