Jakarta (VNA) – Indonesia has highlighted relationship with the US, New Zealand andAustralia at on summits on November 14.

At the ASEAN-US Summit, Indonesia affirmed the US is among strategic partnersof ASEAN in the region.

According to Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, who is on behalf of President JokoWidodo, headed the Indonesian delegation at the meeting, over the past fouryears, the US has remained the second largest trading partner and investors ofASEAN, with two-way trade increasing by 39 percent to 294.6 billion USD. TheUS’s investment in the region also rose to 24.5 billion USD.

In energy, the two sides announced a long-term cooperation plan for 2021-2025.They have promoted cooperation cooperation in the digital economic area througha programme on raising capacity for 4,000 micro, small- and medium-sizedenterprises (MSMEs). Bilateral cooperation in healthcare has been also improvedin the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the ASEAN-New Zealand Commemorative Summit, Indonesian President Joko Widodocalled for stronger partnership between the two sides in a number of issues.

He said ASEAN and New Zealand needs to strengthen their cooperation to promote multilateralism.

He called on the two sides to promote regional economic integration for mutualbenefit, while welcoming New Zealand's decision to sign the RegionalComprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement.

At the ASEAN-Australia Summit, Widodo emphasisedthe need to enhance economic integration and ensure security in the region.
Stabilityand security in the region are "the foundation" for efforts to post-COVID-19economic recovery, he said, while highlighting the importance of implementingprogrammes in the framework of the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP).

The ASEAN-Australia partnership could be the "main pillar" of thecooperation model for peace, stability and prosperity in the region, heaffirmed.

Previously, at the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit (ASEAN BIS) 2020 on November 13, Widodospotlighted the importance of promoting digitalisation in areas and conducting acomprehensive digital revolution, towards forming a useful digital ecosystem inthe region.

The digital economy must be able to support MSMEs in joining global supplychains because these businesses are the backbone, accounting for 89-99 percentof the regional economy, he said, noting that accelerating the digitaltransformation in MSMEs will help revive the regional economy.

The Indonesian leader also called for enhanced regional cooperation to removedigital trade barriers and build a firm legal system, thus promoting thepartnership between the government and the private sector towards fostering regionalconnectivity./.