Indonesia playing key role on international stage

Indonesian President Joko Widodo attended the G7 Summit in Germany in June, and visited Ukraine and Russia earlier this month. He is visiting China, Japan and the Republic of Korea this week. And Indonesia will host the G20 Summit from Nov 15-16.

In Germany, he urged G7 countries to support and promote Ukraine’s wheat exports as soon as possible as a means to improve food supply chains affected by the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

On July 22, Russia, Ukraine, Turkiye and the United Nations reached an agreement that would allow Ukraine to export grain via the Black Sea. And an important outcome of his visit to Russia is that Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend the G20 Summit in Bali.

Apparently Jakarta intends to try and take the G20 Summit as an opportunity to ease the tensions between the West and Russia, and the United States and China. And Indonesia is one of the few countries that has the potential to play the role of mediator.

The Indonesian leader’s busy schedule has raised the country’s profile on the world stage and highlighted the important role it can play in the current global environment, not only because it is one of the originators of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, but also because it enjoys good relations with all the major powers.

Indonesia is the largest economy in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, accounting for 40 percent of the bloc’s total gross domestic product. With a population of over 230 million, Indonesia accounts for about 40 percent of

ASEAN’s population. As the bloc is already China’s largest trading partner, the importance of deepening relations with China is self-evident to Indonesia.

Indonesia may also join the BRICS cooperation mechanism, thereby further promoting the balancing of global economic governance.

Indonesia also supports China’s global development and security initiatives and the G20 Summit is a good opportunity to advance these two initiatives.

With its diplomatic efforts, Jakarta is sending a clear signal that it is not taking sides but is committed to promoting global stability and an open world economy, which should earn the country the respect and support of the international community.