President Jokowi Calls Health Resilience The Main Capital Of ASEAN Economic Recovery

President Joko Widodo while attending the ASEAN Summit virtually. (Photo: Lukas/Press Bureau of the Presidential Secretariat)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) said that health is one of the main assets for ASEAN's economic recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic, said Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi who accompanied President Jokowi in attending the 38th and 39th ASEAN Summits, Tuesday.

In her statement, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said President Jokowi emphasized the importance of health resilience as the main capital for economic recovery in ASEAN. For this reason, the President emphasized the importance of accelerating vaccination in the region.

"The president also emphasized the importance of strengthening the regional health architecture to anticipate future pandemics," said Foreign Minister Retno in a press statement on Tuesday, October 26.

In this regard, continued Foreign Minister Retno, President Jokowi suggested the importance of harmonization of public health emergency policies between ASEAN countries, as well as the importance of strengthening the COVID-19 ASEAN Respond Fund.

In addition, President Jokowi also suggested strengthening the ASEAN Regional Reserve in Medical Supplies and the importance of encouraging the ASEAN region to become a central hub for the production of medical devices, diagnostics, medicines and vaccines.

"The second thing President Jokowi said was to emphasize the importance of joint ASEAN economic recovery efforts. In this regard, the importance of implementing the ASEAN Travel Corridor Arrangement Framework (ATCAF), which was initiated by Indonesia and approved by ASEAN. Indonesia will continue to encourage this implementation," said Foreign Minister Retno.

In addition, regarding the joint economic recovery, President Jokowi also emphasized the importance of accelerating the digital economy, considering that ASEAN has great digital potential. The President gave an example of the digital economy growing to 100 billion US dollars in 2020.

To note, the 38th and 39th ASEAN Summits were chaired directly by the Sultan of Brunei Darussalam Hassanal Bolkiah as Chair of ASEAN, followed by nine ASEAN country leaders and held virtually. Myanmar, which was invited to send non-political representatives, did not attend, although the screen for the Land of a Thousand Pagodas was still being prepared.