Airlangga highlights the importance of ASEAN food and energy security
JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto conveyed the need to strengthen energy and food security in ASEAN countries to overcome disruptions due to the impact of global conflicts.
This was conveyed by Airlangga when representing the Indonesian Government at the 27th Meeting of the ASEAN Economic Community Council (AECC) in Cebu, Philippines.
"To overcome disruption, energy resilience is needed, the optimization of existing cooperation platforms, and a focus on strengthening trade among ASEAN members with strategic partners, such as ASEAN Plus One FTAs and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) as well as utilizing energy resilience cooperation such as ASEAN Power Grid (APG) and ASEAN Framework Agreement on Petroleum Security (APSA)," said Airlangga as quoted by ANTARA, Friday, May 8.
Airlangga also emphasized the importance of ASEAN strengthening regional cooperation, especially in the energy, food, and supply chain sectors to maintain regional economic stability amid global trade dynamics.
He also encouraged concrete steps to strengthen regional energy resilience through diversification of sources and supply routes, strengthening energy reserve mechanisms, and accelerating the implementation of regional cooperation.
"In addition, the use of the strength of ASEAN centrality is needed to build supply chain resilience in the region," he added.
In addition, diversifying trading partners is considered necessary by utilizing the network of free trade agreements (FTAs) and existing cooperation while still prioritizing the increase in intra-ASEAN trade.
In 2026, the ASEAN chairmanship held by the Philippines faces a major challenge due to the impact of the Iran-United States (US)-Israel conflict which triggered energy supply constraints to a spike in commodity and food prices in the region.
For the first time since the pandemic, ASEAN economies face the risk of slowing down due to the global conflict.
The Minister of Trade and Industry of the Philippines Maria Cristina Aldeguer-Roque as the chair of the meeting asked for the views of the ASEAN Economic Ministers to overcome the impact of the war which hindered the availability of energy and crude oil-based products in the region.
The Japanese research institute, the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia, has outlined a proposal to strengthen regional economic resilience through industrial coordination policies.
Meanwhile, the Head of the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO) Dong He conveyed the risk of US domestic policies that trigger disruptions in energy and pesticide supplies to the region.
According to AMRO, this condition has caused an increase in energy and transportation prices, exchange rate depreciation, and a surge in inflation in ASEAN to the highest level since the pandemic.
AMRO also indicated that ASEAN is facing stagflationary pressures or the strongest economic growth stagnation since 2011, so short-term policies are needed to dampen the turmoil while building adaptive long-term resilience.
In addition, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) proposed strengthening energy and food security through concrete programs with ASEAN bodies and the private sector.
ADB also expressed its readiness to channel financing to the ASEAN stock market to help contain the region's economic turmoil and pressure.
On the other hand, the ASEAN Secretariat proposed the ASEAN CORE initiative (Coordinated Response for Enduring Resilience) as a rapid response to strengthen regional resilience, including institutional reforms, deepening economic and financial integration, strengthening energy and food security, and improving maritime supply chain resilience.