Indonesian FM: Joint Efforts Needed for Global Economic Recovery amid Pandemic

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi on Monday stressed the need for strengthening joint efforts among nations to tackle the global economic downturn due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Retno said towards the end of 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic has not shown any signs of slowing down as it has already reached 50 million cases globally.

“We have to admit this challenging situation, we have no other choice but to promote cooperation and rebuild trust in multilateralism,” said Retno at the Indonesia-Latin America and the Caribbean (INA-LAC) Business Forum 2020 held virtually on November 9.

She further added that no matter how strong a country is, it will not be able to face the pandemic alone. The pandemic shows the weakness of each country in dealing with these global uncertainties.

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“We must choose to cooperate rather than compete, choose dialogue rather than being competitors, choose to offer mutually beneficial cooperation.” 

Therefore, she said, Indonesia underscored the importance of strengthening cooperation with countries in the Latin America and Caribbean region.

Retno said the two regions need to set a common vision to increase trade flows and boost the economy. There is still room for improvement as Indonesia’s trade with the regions has only reached two percent of the country’s total trade.

Meanwhile, Latin America and the Caribbean’s trade with Indonesia only reached 0.34 percent of its total trade.

Also read: Indonesia Postpones Covid-19 Vaccination to December 2020