Deputy Minister of Trade Jerry Sambuaga stated that the ministry is preparing four flagship events for Indonesia’s ASEAN Chairmanship in 2023.
“The plan is that Indonesia will hold eight flagship events, four of which will be under the Ministry of Trade,” Sambuaga remarked here on Saturday.
The four events prepared by the ministry are the launch of the ASEAN Online Sale Day (AOSD), ceremony of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) full implementation after the Philippines completes its ratification process.
The other two are the launch of the New ASEAN Tariff Finder and the study completion and launch of the Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA) negotiations.
The series of events align with President Joko Widodo’s (Jokowi’s) statement conveyed at the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit 2022 that ASEAN must play a role as the main engine of regional growth.
“The first step is to strengthen ASEAN’s role as a regional production hub that is an integral part of the highly competitive global value chain. The next way is to encourage energy transition for sustainable energy security to prevent energy crisis due to conflict,” Sambuaga explained.
President Jokowi also called on the private sector to accelerate economic recovery, strengthen ASEAN’s position as a competitive production hub, and speed up the generation of reliable and affordable clean energy.
Meanwhile, Sambuaga proposed priority economic deliverables (PED) under Indonesia’s chairmanship by considering strategic megatrends and overcoming the impact of multidimensional crises on food, energy, and finance.
PED is put together into three strategic impetuses. Of the 16 PEDs under the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), seven will be under the scope of the ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM).
The first impetus includes the ASEAN Services Facilitation Framework (ASFF), second protocol signing to revise the Agreement Establishing the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area (AANZFTA), and ASEAN Industrial Project-Based Initiatives, as well as the RCEP supporting unit establishment in Jakarta.
The second strategic impetus is the full implementation of e-Form D through the ASEAN Single Window and leaders’ statement to develop DEFA, while the third one is developing a roadmap for harmonization of ASEAN standards to support the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
