Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Wants APT to Continue to Innovate to Generate Benefits for All Members

Minister of Foreign Affairs Sugiono during the APT meeting in Manila (Okta Infomed Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia)

JAKARTA - Indonesian Foreign Minister Sugiono emphasized the importance of the ASEAN Plus Three (APT) forum to continue to innovate so that it is beneficial to its members, strengthening the pre-crisis discourse, not only improving to respond to crises, while attending the 27th Meeting of ASEAN Plus Three Foreign Ministers (Japan, RRT, Republic of Korea) in Manila, Philippines, Thursday (23/7).

According to Foreign Minister Sugiono, almost three decades of APT cooperation have proven that tangible results, not rhetoric, are the main strength of the mechanism.

"APT was born out of a crisis. Its future must be determined by the resilience we build before a crisis occurs," said Foreign Minister Sugiono, launching the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs' statement, Friday (24/7).

Foreign Minister Sugiono emphasized the importance of APT's ability to continue to innovate in order to generate benefits for all member countries, amid global disruptions that are increasingly affecting the energy market, food supply, and regional supply chains,

In food security, Indonesia encourages the development of the ASEAN Plus Three Emergency Rice Reserve (APTERR) into a broader regional platform. This cooperation needs to include agricultural innovation, strengthening the food supply chain, and diversifying regional food reserves.

Meanwhile, in the financial sector, Foreign Minister Sugiono emphasized that the results of APT cooperation needed to be utilized to the fullest. Foreign Minister Sugiono also highlighted the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization (CMIM), a financial safety net scheme for the region.

"Indonesia welcomes the development of the CMIM to implement the Rapid Financing Facility (RFF) and the approval of the roadmap towards a more effective use mechanism," said Foreign Minister Sugiono.

Another message emphasized at the APT meeting was the importance of building a strong regional architecture based on the Treaty on Amity and Cooperation (TAC) and the ASEAN Outlook on Indo-Pacific (AOIP) as its foundation. Indonesia emphasized that strengthening the centrality of ASEAN would strengthen confidence in APT and its contribution to peace, stability, and prosperity in the region.

It is known that ASEAN Plus Three was formed in 1997 and brought together ASEAN member countries with the People's Republic of China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea. The 27th meeting of the APT Foreign Ministers is part of the 59th AMM/PMC series in the Philippines and discusses political-security, economic and financial cooperation, food, energy, health, and people-to-people relations.