Asean’s foreign ministers and their peers from China, Russia, the United States and other important partners will encounter in Indonesia’s capital city for a series of yearly meetings beginning on Tuesday. Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan will go to the Asean Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AMM) and its related meetings, Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) conveyed in a statement on Monday. “The 56th AMM will recheck and re-evaluate Asean’s Community Building attempts and reaffirm Asean centrality and unity amid the evolving regional architecture,” said the ministry.
Asean centrality is a concept that belongs to the regional grouping being in the driver’s seat and creating a shape of important resolutions which have the power to make an impact on South-east Asia, instead of having the region’s fortunes determined by external parties. “The ministers will also discuss Asean’s post-pandemic retrieval and economic integration, as well as growth in making the foundation for long-term growth and new healthy changes under Indonesia’s chairmanship theme, Asean Matters: Epicentrum of Growth,” MFA added. Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi also threw light on the need of Asean’s solidity and unification so that it can continue to provide for central role in maintaining serenity in the place amid the “current world situation that is full of much revenge”.
“The war in Ukraine is still happening today. This situation has had a prominent effect on post-Covid-19 economic recovery. This situation also has an impact on the mood of discussion in every forum, many sided and international,” she said during a media briefing in Jakarta on Friday. Indonesia, as Asean chair in 2023, has pledged to make its best efforts to help the situation in Myanmar. The archipelago said it has conducted 110 inclusive and very good engagements with several parties there, involving meeting the junta – which names itself the State Administration Council – the opposition National Unity Government and others.