Jokowi’s team briefed on first intl events

JAKARTA. Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa met with executives of president-elect Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s transition team at the former’s office in Jakarta on Tuesday, to discuss the international events Jokowi will attend in the weeks following his inauguration on Oct. 20.

The first major multilateral event Jokowi will attend as the president of Indonesia is the 22nd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Beijing in early November. Within days, Jokowi will then travel to Naypyitaw in Myanmar to attend the 24th ASEAN Summit. Also taking place in Naypyitaw in November is the 9th East Asia Summit (EAS).

The next major diplomatic event is the 2014 G20 Leaders’ Summit to be held on Nov. 15-16 in Brisbane, Australia.

“President-elect Jokowi will attend a series of international events in three different cities beginning on his 10th day in office,” Marty said after the meeting. “We informed the transition team of the details of the programs of each event, as well as Indonesia’s priorities for those events.”

As an example, Marty, who is touted as a possible foreign minister in Jokowi’s administration, cited the connectivity concept Indonesia had promoted during its chairmanship of APEC last year.

“The concept of connectivity between APEC economies includes the promotion of maritime cooperation, called ‘blue economy’. I think this concept is relevant to the priorities set by Jokowi,” Marty said.

Transition team head Rini Mariani Soemarno said she appreciated Marty’s briefings. “Such important international events need long preparations in order to succeed. However, Jokowi will only have 10 days in office before going to the summits,” she said. “Therefore, advance preparations like we had today are very beneficial.”

Just days after the Constitutional Court turned down the petition by losing presidential ticket Prabowo Subianto-Hatta Rajasa, who challenged the election of Jokowi-Kalla, Jokowi met with outgoing President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) in Bali.

The meeting resulted in an agreement on a transition process whereby SBY would allow Jokowi’s team to coordinate with ministries and other government agencies.

Analysts believe the transition initiative is unprecedented in the country’s previous presidential successions. (Bagus BT Saragih)