What Are Indonesia's Roles In The Economic Sector In Asean? Many! This Is The Answer

Illustration of the ASEAN state flag. (Wikimedia Commons/Gunawan Kartapranata)

YOGYAKARTA Not only being the founding state of Asean, Indonesia's role in building the welfare of the people in Southeast Asia is quite large, including in the economic sector. Then what is Indonesia's role in the economic sector in Asean?

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations or abbreviated as Asean is an association filled with Southeast Asian countries that have a mission to help improve the welfare and progress of countries in Southeast Asia.

Asean was founded on August 8, 1967. At the beginning of the establishment of Asean, there were only five countries that were included in the association, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, and Thailand. Over time, Asean experienced an increase in members, namely as follows.

Indonesia as one of the founding countries of Asean has played a major role, especially in the economic sector. In fact, Indonesia's role has been felt since Asean was founded. The following is Indonesia's role in the economic sector in Asean.

Reporting from the book Thematics for grade 6 SD/MI, Theme 7, Subtema 1, the 2013 curriculum, it is said that one of Indonesia's roles in Asean in the economic sector is as the initiator of the ASEAN Economic Community or MEA.

MEA is a network of economic cooperation between Asean countries with a free trading system. This collaboration was established at the 9th ASEAN Summit in Bali in 2003. At that time, Indonesia gave advice and input regarding the ASEAN Economic Community or AEC.

The existence of the MEA has proven to be very helpful for economic activities in Indonesia and other Asean countries. MEA helps eliminate barriers to international trade in Southeast Asia. In addition, thanks to MEA, economic integration between countries in Southeast Asia can be carried out well.

Indonesia also plays the role of Asean rice village which is able to meet the needs of all citizens through strengthening, expanding, and providing cross-border cooperation.

Apart from Indonesia, countries in Southeast Asia that are also rice barns are Thailand and Vietnam.

Indonesia has a chart separating sea lanes or TSS Sea Lanes for the Indonesian Archipelago (ALKI) I and ALKI II. ALKI is a sea route in Indonesian waters that is free to pass by ships from any country or can be called free to pass. With the existence of ALKI, the shipping of commercial ships in the ASEAN region is getting busier.

The ASEAN Free Trade Area or AFTA is a free trade organization between Asean countries. The AFT was founded on January 28, 1992 and intended to facilitate and increase trade activity in Southeast Asia.

The existence of AFTA is also quite profitable because it makes products from ASEAN countries have strong competitiveness in the global market. This result is in accordance with the initial intention of establishing AFTA, namely making the ASEAN region a competitive production area.

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