Ministers Of Finance, Central Banks And Entrepreneurs Agree To Realize ASEAN As A Center For World Growth

Illustration (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA The first meeting of the Ministers of Finance and the Governor of the Central Bank of ASEAN together with businessmen agreed to realize the ideals of making the Southeast Asia region the center of world economic growth.

Governor of Bank Indonesia (BI) Perry Warjiyo conveyed ASEAN's important role in the global economy.

"This is in line with the development of information technology, so ASEAN needs to carry out digital transformation in order to continue to encourage economic growth," he said in a written statement while attending the official ASEAN agenda in Bali in the middle of this week.

According to Perry, this is in line with the digitalization pillar for the chairmanship of Indonesia in ASEAN. Furthermore, Perry conveyed the initiative of the ASEAN region for payment system connectivity.

"The steps taken are a follow-up to the mutual understanding of five central banks in the ASEAN region within the framework of Regional Payment Connectivity (RPC)," he said.

On the same occasion, Minister of Finance (Menkeu) Sri Mulyani Indrawati also emphasized that in addition to digital transformation, economic growth must be inclusive and sustainable.

Mentioned, as an effort to achieve a low-carbon economy, ASEAN has also launched the ASEAN Taxonomy for the Sustainable Financing version 2 which is the world's first taxonomy to accommodate energy transitions based on the category of qualified activities for funding.

"We also remind the need to strengthen the collaboration of the health and financial sectors by all parties in ASEAN, both from the government and the private sector, as an effort to deal with the potential for a future health crisis," said Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani.

The Ministers of Finance and Governors of the ASEAN State Central Bank welcome the collaboration that has been fostered between ASEAN countries and business actors in ASEAN, in particular in order to support the promotion of trade and investment, as well as strengthen the economic structure of ASEAN so that it can become the center of world growth (epicentrum of growth).