Governor Koster: Bali Is Still The Main Location For G20 Summit

JAKARTA - Bali Governor Wayan Koster emphasized that the island of Bali will remain the main location for holding a series of meetings of the Indonesian G20 Chair in 2022.

"Bali, as decided by the President of the Republic of Indonesia Joko Widodo, will remain the main venue for the G20 Presidency, the culmination of which will be attended by heads of state at the 2022 Summit in Bali," he said while giving a statement in Jayasabha, Denpasar, Thursday, January 20.

Koster conveyed the statement following up on the circulation of Secretary I Letter of the G20 Meeting Implementation Committee in the Logistics Sector Number S-3/G.20.33/2022 dated January 19, 2022 regarding Submission of Information on the Relocation of G20 Activity Locations.

"It was decided to move from Bali to Jakarta only two meetings, namely the 2nd FCBD (Finance and Central Bank Deputy) and the 1st FMCBG (Finance Minister Central Bank Governor) scheduled for February 15-18, 2022," he said.

This, he continued, is in line with the preference of the G20 delegates who prefer Jakarta due to the consideration of the high Jakarta-Bali transit risk, along with the increasing exposure to Omicron.

"This transfer from Bali to Jakarta is only an exchange of time with the planned implementation of the 2nd FMCBG in July 2022, which was originally planned in Jakarta, will be transferred to Bali," he said.

Koster said the holding of the G20 Indonesia Chairperson's meeting was not moved to Jakarta, but only the financial meeting which was planned in Bali to be moved to Jakarta.

"The public does not need to be excited, the decision taken by the Ministry of Finance is for the common good, taking into account various management and technical aspects as well as convenience for the participants," said Koster.

According to him, this must be understood wisely by all parties.

Koster said that according to information conveyed by Secretary I of the Organizing Committee for the G20 Meeting for Logistics, Rudy Rahmad in Jakarta on Thursday, it was explained in detail that the letter was a communication between the committee and stakeholders in Bali.

This, he continued, was part of routine coordination in the preparation of the Chair of the G20 Indonesia meeting.

The G20 meeting is a series of meetings on the finance and sherpa lines, of which a total of 345 meetings will be held at the engagement group, working group, deputy, and central bank ministers/governors level, with the culmination of which will be attended by heads of state in Bali.