President Jokowi Arrives at ASEAN Leaders Meeting Arena

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko Widodo or Jokowi has arrived at the ASEAN Secretariat building in Jakarta, where the ASEAN Leaders Meeting will be held today, April 24. He arrived at around 13:12 and was greeted by ASEAN Secretary General Dato Lim Jock Hoi.

The president and other ASEAN member delegations head to the meeting hall at Bali Lounge. There will be three sessions in this year's summit, namely the development of ASEAN community, ASEAN external relationship, as well as regional and international issues.

In the first and second sessions, Jokowi will be accompanied by Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi and the ministry's Director General of ASEAN partnership Sidharto R. Suryodipuro. While in the third session, the president will be assisted only by Foreign Affairs Minister.

A number of ASEAN leaders attended the invitation of the Sultan of Brunei Darussalam, Hassanal Bolkiah, as the chairman of ASEAN. The Asean leaders meeting (ALM) is an initiative of Indonesia, which is a follow-up of the discussion between President Jokowi and the Sultan of Brunei regarding the situation in Myanmar.

The ASEAN Leaders Meeting is hopefully to be able to come up with resolutions for the people of Myanmar and help them to get out of the current situation.

Myanmar military chief general Min Aung Hlaing, other state laders and delegations of ASEAN country members were scheduled to attend the event. Three state leaders, namely Thailand PM Prayuth Chan-o-cha, the president of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte, and Laos President Thongloun Sisoulith decided not to attend the ASEAN Summit, yet they sent their delegations to Indonesia.

Read: Indonesia Hopes ASEAN Summit Produces Solution for Myanmar Crisis

Dewi Nurita