Next Year To Become The G20 Presidency, This Is Indonesia's Focus

JAKARTA - Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi appreciates the support from a number of friendly countries, related to the Presidency of the G20 countries next year. He also mentioned Indonesia's readiness to continue the G20 Presidency after this year by Italy.

This was conveyed by Foreign Minister Retno in separate bilateral meetings with the Foreign Ministers of Brunei Darussalam, India, Japan, Singapore and Spain, ahead of the G20 Foreign Ministers summit in Matera, Italy Monday, June 28. The summit will be held today Italian time.

"The G20 countries express their full support for Indonesia's presidency next year. This year, Indonesia has become part of the G20 troika with Saudi Arabia and Italy," said Foreign Minister Retno in a written statement, Tuesday, June 29.

Furthermore, Foreign Minister Retno said, as the G20 Presidency, Indonesia's vision is to focus on global recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic. Recovery is meant as a strong, inclusive and beneficial recovery for the G20 countries and the world.

"We will build consensus to become a bridge builder and ensure that the interests of developing countries are reflected in G-20 decisions," said Foreign Minister Retno.

"In this effort, the Indonesian Presidency will push for a number of priority issues, including: productivity, resilience, sustainability, partnership or enabling environment and global leadership," he explained.

Foreign Minister Retno added, Indonesia will encourage the creation of a conducive environment for sustainable, inclusive and green development, including through strengthening the digital economy, empowering women and youth.

On the occasion, Foreign Minister Retno also discussed strengthening diplomacy in the health sector. The current global vaccination program provides a glimmer of hope for getting out of the pandemic. However, these expectations are not evenly distributed throughout the world due to the high vaccine gap between developed and developing countries.

Foreign Minister Retno explained, the emergence of new variants encourages the world to accelerate vaccination equally. In this regard, Indonesia continues to encourage the implementation of equal access to vaccines for all countries.

"Some of what Indonesia has conveyed to accelerate vaccination, among others, dose sharing or dose-sharing, supporting the TRIPS waiver proposal in the form of temporary abolition of copyright for vaccines and COVID-19 treatment, as well as closing the financing gap for ACT-Accelerator," he concluded.