Jokowi Pushes Trade and Counterterrorism Cooperation at G-20 Summit
Updated on Monday (10/07), 2.27 p.m.
Jakarta. President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has called for increased multilateral cooperation in counterterrorism and stronger trade partnerships during his meetings with heads of states at the Group of 20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany.
In the first session of the summit's Leaders' Retreat on Friday (07/07), Jokowi urged the world's biggest economies to unite in a struggle against terrorism, making a case for a balanced approach, combining soft power and hard power.
In a statement released on Saturday, leaders of G-20 countries said they will enhance cooperation in counterterrorism, particularly by exchanging information between authorities, curbing terrorist financing and combating radicalization, especially in the internet and social media.
On the sidelines of the two-day summit, Jokowi held bilateral meetings with a number of his counterparts, including Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy Brey, Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and United States President Donald Trump.
Indonesia seeks to strengthen cooperation in the strategic industries with Spain, trade partnerships with Norway, and collaboration in addressing the issue of illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing with both Norway and Vietnam.
"I want to urge formal cooperation in this sector, covering the eradication of IUU fishing, fisheries management, sustainable cultivation and marine protection," Jokowi said during his meeting with the Norwegian prime minister, as quoted in a press release issued by the Cabinet Secretariat.
Negotiations on the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between Indonesia and the European Union Free Trade Association are currently in progress. Jokowi expressed his hope the talks will be finalized by the end of this year.
The president also touched on issues such as digitalization and expressed his support for stronger cooperation in formulating an appropriate policy to anticipate economic, business and workforce shifts caused by the turn to automation and artificial intelligence. He also appealed for more engagement in international public health.
"Indonesia seeks better cooperation between the World Health Organization and the World Bank to avoid pandemics that could have a destructive impact on world economies and may lead to humanitarian crises," Jokowi said on Saturday, adding that enhancing health insurance facilities for developing countries is crucial.
Although the topic of climate change was highlighted during this year's summit – partly in reference to the United States withdrawal from the Paris Agreement – the Indonesian government made no lengthy mention regarding the issue. The president said the pact must be implemented as soon as possible and that it is "irreversible."
Jokowi also said that Indonesia aims to become "part of the solution" to climate change by extending a moratorium on issuing new licenses to utilize peatlands and areas covered by primary forests, and by forming the Peatland Restoration Agency.
The moratorium mentioned by the president has, however, been criticized at home and by the World Resources Institute, which says the presidential instruction is not strong enough to prevent tree loss as perpetrators still remain impune.
According to the institute, the loss has been increasing "suggesting that the moratorium had scant effect on forest protection."
At the summit, Jokowi also mentioned Indonesia's commitment to enhance the use of renewable energy and biofuels. However, as the country's 35,000 megawatt target is still based on gas and coal-fueled power plants, the road to green energy seems long and winding.
Meeting With Trump
In the first bilateral meeting between Jokowi and the US president, both leaders emphasized "their commitment to strengthen Indonesia-United States strategic partnership" and "discussed ways to expand fair and reciprocal trade between their countries, as well as ways to strengthen defense cooperation," according to a statement released by the White House.
Trump was quoted as saying that the United States "will start doing a lot of trading with Indonesia."
"We have our whole trade delegation here, and we will start doing a lot of trading with Indonesia. We do very little business, relatively, now. But we are going to do a lot of business," Trump told Jokowi.
Indonesia and the United States agreed to isolate terrorists from financial and ideological support, and "underscored their resolve to defeat terrorist networks in Southeast Asia and around the world."
According to the White House, both leaders pledged to coordinate closely on issues of international security.
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