18th East Asia Summit begins in Jakarta

On Thursday, Indonesian President Joko Widodo thanked the organizers of the East Asia Summit for creating a forum for all parties to advance cooperation.

In his address to the 18th East Asia Summit that began in Jakarta today, Widodo said, “Essentially we acknowledge stability and peace as the main key to achieve prosperity. ASEAN is steadfast in making this vision an epicentrum of growth and therefore ASEAN will continue to work to play a role as country leader…”
“ASEAN will really appreciate that if this East Asia summit can agree on a leader statement and its determination as the epicentrum of growth,” Widodo said.
Indonesia is the chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) this year.
The Indonesian President said that it is at this time when the international community will assess if “we are leaders with the wisdom to make the world a better place for all.”
“I thank once again the leaders of the East Asia Summit of making this forum for us to strengthen the cooperation. I call on all the leaders to show the wisdom, to show the leadership for the success of this,” said Widodo as he declared the East Asia Summit open.

Leaders from ASEAN nations and its eight dialogue partners, including India, would have the chance to discuss issues of both regional and global importance at the East Asia Summit. The most important ASEAN-focused mechanism in the Indo-Pacific is the East Asia Summit. It has been instrumental in providing a forum for conversation and debate on issues of strategic import to the region ever since its founding in 2005. In addition to exchanging opinions on topics of regional and global interest, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other leaders will discuss ways to further strengthen the East Asia Summit mechanism at this 18th summit.