Indonesia Ready To Welcome Foreign Minister ASEAN And Partner Countries

Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi reviewed the media center for the 56th ASEAN Foreign Minister's Meeting in Jakarta, Monday (10/7/2023). (ANTARA/Yashinta Difa)

JAKARTA - Indonesia is ready to welcome foreign ministers members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and dialogue partner countries who will attend the 56th Meeting of the ASEAN Foreign Minister (AMM) in Jakarta on 10-14 July 2023.

"(I am) very ready to start tomorrow's meeting," said Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi while reviewing the 2023 media centerAMM in Jakarta as reported by ANTARA, Monday, July 10.

Foreign Minister Retno is scheduled to open a session (plenary)AMM on Tuesday (11/7), which was preceded by a meeting of ASEAN Foreign Ministers to discuss Southeast Asian Nuclear Weapons Free Area (SEANWFZ), and a meeting with the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission for Human Rights (AICHR).

Meanwhile, on Wednesday (12/7), AMM will continue with a review session (retreat). The series of meetings resumed on Thursday (13/7) with a meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers with dialogue partner countries namely India, New Zealand, Russia, Australia, China, Japan, South Korea, the European Union, Britain, and Canada.

Meanwhile, on Friday (14/7), Foreign Minister ASEAN will hold a meeting with the United States, as well as ASEAN Plus Tiga (APT), a meeting of the foreign minister of the East Asian Summit (EAS), and the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF).

On the sidelines of these various meetings, said Retno, Indonesia had received 13 requests for bilateral meetings from partner countries, including from New Zealand, China, Timor Leste, India, Japan, the UK, and EU.

"But this is still very dynamic because the time needs to be adjusted, sometimes it doesn't meet or doesn't match either... but so far we have received 13 bilateral requests," he said.

The day before AMM took place, Foreign Minister Retno had reviewed all events and media centers to ensure facilities for media coverage were well available.

Indonesia as chairman of ASEAN this year has set the theme ASEAN Matters: Epicentrum of Growth with a focus on directing cooperation to strengthen ASEAN's relevance in responding to regional and global challenges and strengthening ASEAN's position as the center of economic growth in the region.