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JAKARTA – Don’t expect a quick solution to the Myanmar crisis, Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said on Friday (March 26) after a meeting with Indonesian President Joko Widodo, during which they discussed the military coup in ASEAN member state, as well as opportunities. in the green economy.
Dr Balakrishnan said it was “essential” for Asean’s credibility, centrality and relevance to have a position and to be able to offer some constructive help to Myanmar.
“It is not a happy subject. It is an unfolding tragedy … It is going to take a long time to resolve,” he told Singaporean media as he concluded a two-day visit to the Indonesian capital, his last stop after a lightning work trip to Brunei and Malaysia that started on Monday.
Dr. Balakrishnan said that he and Mr. Widodo, better known as Jokowi, spoke about the situation in Myanmar at the presidential palace in Jakarta.
On March 19, the president had called for the violence to stop and for peace and stability to be restored in Myanmar following the February 1 military coup and the ensuing security crackdown on protesters in the country. He had also urged ASEAN leaders to meet to discuss the crisis.
On Friday, Dr. Balakrishnan reiterated that Indonesia and Singapore did not believe in foreign interference in national politics, but hoped Myanmar would take the views of regional leaders into consideration.
He said a particular summit would allow leaders “to have the opportunity to reach out to each other silently, confidentially and openly to a series of conclusions.”
Dr. Balakrishnan and his Indonesian counterpart, Ms. Retno Marsudi, had expressed their support for the summit at a joint press conference on Thursday.
In addition to Myanmar, Dr. Balakrishnan also spoke with Mr. Widodo about the green economy, which Dr. Balakrishnan believes will take off in a big way, not only in Indonesia, but also in Southeast Asia, in the coming decades.
“The president was particularly concerned with this issue of the green economy and the opportunities that the green economy presents for Indonesia in terms of Indonesia’s access to hydropower, wind, geothermal, solar panels and how the renewable energy economy has developed. transformed only in the last five to 10 years, “he said.
Dr. Balakrishnan also met with high-level ministers in Indonesia, including the Coordinating Minister of Maritime Affairs and Investments Luhut Pandjaitan, with whom he discussed investment opportunities in the renewable energy sector in Indonesia, as well as trade cooperation and investment in the maritime sector.
Other officials included the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto, the Minister of Finance, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, the Minister of Creative Economy, Sandiaga Uno, and the Governor of Jakarta, Anies Baswedan.
“It’s been really hectic, but like I said, a very productive and satisfying visit,” he said.
On tourism and travel arrangements between the two countries, Dr. Balakrishnan said the approach was “gradual, safe and cautious” in light of the Covid-19 situation.
For cross-border travel to occur, the two countries must be able to share verifiable records, such as Covid-19 testing and vaccination.
“We need … the Covid situation to improve significantly, ideally for them (Indonesia) to achieve the same level of control that we currently have in Singapore, which means that every day we have zero, one or two cases locally.” , He said. saying.
“So this will take some time and so I fully reiterate Ibu Retno’s point. Let’s do it gradually, carefully, cautiously. That’s the way to do it,” he said.
Singapore has been Indonesia’s top foreign investor since 2014. Last year’s investment increased 50.8% from 2019 and was the highest in at least six years, since 2015.
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