Jokowi to Call Three G20 leaders to Confirm Summit Attendance

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said that he would make a phone call to his counterparts who have yet to confirm their attendance at the Group of Twenty (G20) Summit.

Indonesia, which holds the rotating G20 presidency, will host the summit from Nov. 15-16 on the resort island of Bali.

"Three G20 leaders have yet to confirm their attendance. I will call them up for confirmation," the President said at the Indo Defence 2022 Forum and Expo, held at JIExpo in Kemayoran, Jakarta, on Wednesday, Nov. 2.

He, however, did not mention names or countries. The Indonesian authorities' preliminary data indicate that at least 17 G20 leaders have confirmed their participation in the summit.

The number of G20 leaders who have confirmed their attendance at the Bali Leaders' Summit can be said to be “high enough,” he said, adding that this is indeed an honor for Indonesia as the current chair.

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In a normal situation, the number of leaders confirming their participation in the G20 Summit is “very high.” “It means that in a so-difficult situation, their presence is indeed an honor for us,” he said.

One of the G20 leaders who has confirmed his attendance is US President Joe Biden.

According to a press statement issued recently by the White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, President Biden will be in Bali from Nov. 13–16 for the summit.

"In Bali, the President will commend President Joko Widodo's leadership of the G20," she said in a statement on Biden's travel plans to North Africa and Asia, which was released by the White House on Oct. 28.

At the G20 Summit, Biden will highlight the US commitment to the premier forum for economic cooperation whose members represent more than 80 percent of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP), she said.

"He will work with G20 partners to address key challenges such as climate change, the global impact of Putin's war on Ukraine, including on energy and food security and affordability, and a range of other priorities important to the global economic recovery," she added.

Meanwhile, earlier Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said that the number of G20 leaders who had confirmed their attendance for the G20 Summit was “very high.”

However, she did not disclose the exact number of G20 leaders who have confirmed their attendance.

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Several leaders have not confirmed their attendance on account of special situations in their countries, the minister added.

Citing an example, she disclosed that the Brazilian leader has not yet confirmed whether he will attend the summit because of general elections in the country to elect a president. The new president will take office on Jan. 1, 2023.

Formed in 1999, the G20 currently has 20 members - the US, Argentina, Brazil, Australia, Canada, Mexico, Turkey, Indonesia, South Korea, Japan, China, Germany, Britain, India, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Italy, France, Russia, and the EU.

Source: State News Antara