Jokowi Hopes The Big Role Of Young People For ASEAN Sustainability

LABUAN BAJO - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) hopes that the younger generation can play a major role in maintaining Southeast Asia's sustainability as a stable and peaceful region.

This hope was conveyed by Jokowi when opening a meeting of ASEAN leaders with several representatives from the younger generation of ASEAN (ASEAN Leaders' Interface with Representatives of ASEAN Youth) at the 42nd ASEAN Summit in Labuan Bajo, NTT.

"We hope that the role of the ASEAN youth generation for the sustainability of Southeast Asia as a stable and peaceful region, as well as being a center of growth, and ASEAN has strong capital to achieve it," Jokowi said as quoted by ANTARA, Wednesday, May 10.

President Jokowi added that Southeast Asia is an area that experiences economic growth far above the world average.

"Therefore, ASEAN, whose population is 34 percent youth, can formulate the best steps to maximize existing potentials," he said.

President Joko Widodo this morning officially opened the 42nd ASEAN Summit at the Meruorah Hotel, Labuan Bajo, NTT. The summit was attended by eight ASEAN leaders, Timor Leste, who in November 2022 had been approved in principle as 11th member.

President Jokowi chaired all meetings on the first day of the summit, namely the plenary session Summit and four meetings with representatives of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA), ASEAN Youth, and the ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ABAC).

In addition, a meeting was also held with the High-Level Task Force on ASEAN Community Post-2025 Vision (HLTF-ACV).

In this chairmanship, Indonesia has the theme ASEANMatters: Epicentrum of Growth which means ASEAN is relevant and important as a center of world growth.

Indonesia aims to strengthen the capacity and effectiveness of ASEAN institutions in order to be able to answer the challenges in the next 20 years.

Indonesia stated that it will guard the area towards ASEAN 2045 which needs to be more adaptive, responsive, and competitive in ways that are in line with the principles of the ASEAN Charter.

As chairman, Indonesia also aims to strengthen economic recovery and make Southeast Asia a sustainable growth engine.