Ahead of Bali summit, India, Indonesia deepen collaboration

India and Indonesia are set to intensify their coordination on G20-related issues ahead of the G20 summit in Bali and in the run-up to the summit of the world’s most powerful economies India will host in 2023.

Earlier this week, India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar discussed the G20 grouping and the situation in Myanmar with his Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi in New York.

Ahead of the Bali summit, Indonesia’s Ambassador to India Ina Hagniningtyas Krisnamurthi underlined that India and Indonesia will play a significant role in shaping an Asian century and hoped that New Delhi will be an excellent champion in hosting the summit in 2023.

“The 21^st century is Asia’s century and I believe that India and Indonesia will play a significant role. I believe that India will be an excellent champion in hosting G20”, said the Indonesian envoy at an event organised by Aspen India in New Delhi. “Hopefully we will have a joint communique. We will have an agreed document by consensus and hopefully, we will be a good host to everyone coming to Bali.

Calling the Ukraine war an eye-opener, the envoy stressed on the G20’s role in addressing global challenges. “Indonesia had been caught in the geological tensions, especially amidst the Russian-Ukraine war tensions. The world must address the impact of challenges in the world,” she said.

“If you see our steps after March, President Joko Widodo visited Ukraine and Moscow (the first Asian leader to visit both sides of the war area). War in Ukraine is an eye – opener and no country/region is immune to such things”, the ambassador added.

Looking ahead to India’s presidency of G20, the envoy said that “this would be the first time when the troika would consist of three developing countries and emerging economies, providing them with a greater voice.”

India is currently part of the G20 Troika (current, previous and incoming G20 Presidencies) comprising Indonesia, Italy, and India.

Going forward, collaboration and cooperation will be the mantra that will drive G20. “We (India) were together as Troika. India was, is and will be a part of the Troika. We learn these global dynamics together. So we experience it by working together. We’re collaborating. So I think, the lesson learned from the troika is that collaboration is important. It is significant, if not done differently G20 will collapse and we will not have good decisions and good policies”, she said.

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Manish Chand

Manish Chand is Founder-CEO and Editor-in-Chief of India Writes Network (www.indiawrites.org) and India and World, a pioneering magazine focused on international affairs. He is CEO/Director of TGII Media Private Limited, an India-based media, publishing, research and consultancy company.