President Jokowi Officially Opens the 43rd ASEAN Summit in Jakarta

ASEAN - JAKARTA. President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) officially opened the 43rd ASEAN Summit and other Summits at the Jakarta Convention Center, Tuesday (5/9). 

"With the utterance of bismillahirahmanrirahiim, I officially declare the 43rd ASEAN Summit and other Summits open," said Jokowi in his welcoming speech. 
Jokowi also welcomed the leaders of the ASEAN countries to Jakarta. 

He said, all the people of Indonesia are very happy to welcome the presence of the leaders of the countries as a big ASEAN family. 

"I am sure not only Indonesia, but all ASEAN member countries have the same sense of pride, have the same love, for the family we call ASEAN," said Jokowi. 

In his speech, Jokowi also stated that ASEAN cannot stand alone in facing the challenges in the world. 

According to him, in its journey, ASEAN needs to cooperate with the partners of the Southeast Asian countries' organization. 

"Let's together realize equal and mutually beneficial cooperation to sail together towards the epicenter of growth," said Jokowi. 

The opening ceremony was also attended by leaders and representatives of the ASEAN Summit participating countries, namely Prime Minister (PM) of Laos Sonexay Siphandone, PM of Cambodia Hun Manet, Head of the Thai Delegation Sarun Charoensuwan, and President of the Philippines Ferdinan Marcos Jr. 
Then, PM of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong, PM of Malaysia Anwar Ibrahim, PM of Vietnam Pham Minh Chinh, PM of Timor Leste Xanana Gusmao, PM of the Cook Islands Mark Brown, President of Bangladesh Mohammed Shahabuddin, and Sultan of Brunei Darussalam Hassanal Bolkiah. 

For information, the series of the 43rd ASEAN Summit will be held in Jakarta from Tuesday (5/9) to Thursday (7/9). 

The 43rd ASEAN Summit series will also be filled with Summits between ASEAN and several partner countries. The series of meetings are in plenary and retreat format, namely the 26th ASEAN-China Summit, the 24th ASEAN-South Korea Summit, the 26th ASEAN-Japan Summit, and the 11th ASEAN-United States Summit. 

Other meetings are the ASEAN-Canada Summit, the 26th ASEAN Plus Three Summit, the 20th ASEAN-India Summit, the 3rd ASEAN-Australia Summit, the 18th East Asia (EAS) Summit, and the 13th ASEAN-United Nations (UN) Summit.

This article has been published on Kompas.com titled: "Jokowi Officially Opens the 43rd ASEAN Summit in Jakarta," 

Author : Ardito Ramadhan
Editor : Novianti Setuningsih