Indonesia to Highlight Creative Economy and Peacekeeping as New Mikta Chair
Jakarta. Indonesia will highlight the creative economy sector and peace and security initiatives as chair of Mikta throughout next year, deputy foreign minister A.M. Fachir said on Tuesday (19/12).
Mikta, which stands for Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea, Turkey and Australia, was established on the sidelines of the 68th United Nations General Assembly in September 2013. Mikta has a combined population of 540 million people and a combined gross domestic product of almost $6 trillion.
Indonesia officially assumed Mikta leadership from Turkey at the 11th Mikta Ministerial Conference in Istanbul on Dec. 13.
"Indonesia has enormous potential in creative economy as it has provided field jobs for 16 million people and contributes 7.3 percent to our GDP [gross domestic product]," Fachir said during his opening speech at the "Challenges and Opportunities of Mikta in the Global Arena" seminar in Jakarta.
According to a survey conducted in 2016 by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) and the Creative Economy Agency (Bekraf), Indonesia's creative industry contributed Rp 852 trillion ($62.75 million) to GDP, while its exports were valued at $19.4 billion.
The data also shows a significant increase of creative economy contribution to the national economy from 2010-2015 at 10.14 percent per year.
Next year, Indonesia will hold a forum on enhancing cooperation in creative economy jobs on the sidelines of the World Conference on Creative Economy (WWCE), as well as a business forum on the sidelines of IMF-World Bank meeting.
Indonesia has also urged Mikta state members to be more involved in peace and security initiatives to assist the United Nations in its peacekeeping mission.
"Indonesia has a big role in peacekeeping missions for the UN, it will be better if all five countries also contribute to strengthening the world's peacekeeping," Fachir said.
In 2015, Indonesia adopted the 4,000 Peacekeepers Vision, a pledge to become one of the top 10 contributors in peacekeeping missions by the end of 2019. With 2,713 peacekeepers now, Indonesia ranks 10th in the UN and the first in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).
According to Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, UN peacekeeping missions are "at the very heart of Indonesia's foreign policy."
As chair, Indonesia will also continue to support Mikta’s other core issues, including combating terrorism, commercial and economic cooperation, energy, sustainable development, gender equality and good governance and democracy.
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