JAKARTA, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia pledged to make ASEAN a motor of peace and stability, and also an epicenter of economic growth, said Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi when meeting with her Malaysian counterpart Zambry Abdul Kadir in Jakarta on Thursday.
Indonesia will start its Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) chairmanship for 2023 after completing its task of the Group of 20 presidency in November, which experts said was held amid unstable global political conditions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, energy issues and global economic downturn.
Marsudi said last month in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, during the chairmanship transfer that 2023 would not likely be a safe year for the world just yet, especially for ASEAN.
"The world is still experiencing multidimensional challenges. The geopolitical and economic challenges could be more dynamic next year, so let's keep holding talks with positive energy and with the spirit of economic cooperation," she said.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo also emphasized equal and mutually beneficial partnerships during the ASEAN-European Union Summit held in Brussels in mid-December.
Southeast Asia has become an economic powerhouse for the last few decades, he said, adding that the region will remain a center of growth.
"The partnership with ASEAN will certainly be profitable," he said.
"We have learned important lessons from the pandemic and multidimensional crises that we are facing now that growing and prospering together is the only option," he said. ■
