Indonesia Seeks Stable and Peaceful Pacific Region

Liputan6.com, Bali - Indonesia just welcomed Pacific delegations at the Indonesia Pacific Forum for Development on Tuesday (7/11). The event was held alongside the Bali Democracy Forum 2022. 

“We must maintain the Pacific as a peaceful, stable, and prosperous region,” said Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi during the opening of the Indonesia Pacific Forum for Development in Bali. 

According to the report from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the forum was attended by 17 Pacific countries and territories, four multilateral organizations, and five invited countries. Among those present were Premier of Niue and seven ministers from Australia, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste, and the Kingdom of Tonga.

Timor Leste is the new member of ASEAN which has recently been "principally" accepted.

The ministry said this forum highlighted Indonesia's commitment to strengthen its engagement in the Pacific, including through technical and development cooperation.

“When Indonesia talks about Pacific Elevation, it is not only about elevating Indonesia’s engagement with the Pacific,” FM Marsudi stated, “It is also about working together as part of the Pacific, to elevate the livelihoo​ds of communities in this region.” 

The areas of cooperation discussed during the Forum also included climate change, disaster mitigation, food, health, and energy security, and then connectivity, human resource development, and women empowerment.

Furthermore, the ministry highlighted that during Indonesia's presidency in the G20, Indonesia put spotlight on the concerns of small island nations in the Pacific, and pushed for the establishment of concrete G20 policies dedicated to Pacific countries.

There are at least 10 projects that Pacific countries can take advantage of in the context of the G20, two of them are Indonesian initiatives.

The IPFD also included a Pacific Business Engagement, which featured the Foreign Ministers of Papua New Guinea and Timor Leste as well as three workshops on the topics of disaster risk reduction; capacity building for MSMEs; and women empowerment.

Meanwhile, Bali Democracy Forum was also concluded on Thursday. In her remark, Minister Retno showed concerns about the challenges which are faced by global democracy and human rights. 

She emphasizes that democracy works in Indonesia, although there has been global criticism against the new Indonesian criminal code which restrict sex outside marriage, and create great legal obstacle for the women who need abortion.