JakartaPost-June 16, 2022
Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi on Monday concluded her daylong work visit to Prague, where she attended the High-Level Dialogue on the Indo-Pacific hosted by the Czech Republic as part of the Council of the European Union’s rotating presidency, which it takes over from France next month. It is the second in a series of forums, with the inaugural Ministerial Forum for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific hosted in February by France, and comes as the EU looks to implementing its strategy in the region. The Prague dialogue discussed the challenges and potentials in the region, covering issues such as cooperation, defense, economy, connectivity and entrepreneurship. Speaking to the press on Monday, Retno said she had suggested the three key ideas of inclusivity, rules-based order and concrete cooperation to build shared security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific amid the tumultuous global situation. She also underlined that all countries must be consistent and unconditional in upholding the United Nations Charter that respected the sovereignty of each state. The region’s political and economical architecture should be inclusive to all, Retno said, referring to the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific, which offered “a similar paradigm for regions outside ASEAN”. “We call for the principle of inclusivity and non-containment for all states that interacting within the Indo-Pacific,” Retno told a press briefing on Monday. “I have also emphasized that the formation of groups in the region must be building blocks [for] creating stability, peace, security and prosperity.” Read more at:
https://www.thejakartapost.com/paper/2022/06/15/retno-urges-cooperation-trust-on-indo-pacific.html.
