Mutual Respect for Sovereignty, Integrity Agreed at BRF Summit

TEMPO.CO, Beijing - Heads of state and government at the Belt and Road Forum (BRF) in Beijing have discussed infrastructure cooperation and key principles of the initiatives.

The principle of mutual respect for sovereignty and integrity has been adopted in the New Maritime Silk Road project.

“It’s one of the principles adopted and approved by almost participants. The summit resulted in a joint statement encompassing all issues discussed in the last two days,” Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said yesterday in Beijing, as quoted by Antara.

In his statement at the leaders’ roundtable discussion held at Yangqi Lake International Conference Center (ICC), President Joko Widodo said that he expected the BRF initiatives to materialize.

Moreover, he is hopeful that the BRF would seek to strike a balance between economic growth and social aspects and environmental sustainability.

Having attended the BRF summit, Marsudi said that international coordination and connectivity play a major role in China’s New Maritime Silk Road.

On the second day of the BRF summit, Jokowi expressed that Indonesia, as a country situated between the Indian and Pacific oceans, has become one the most important countries in the Southeast Asian maritime sector.

Therefore, Marsudi said that Indonesia has proposed the idea of a Maritime Axis to develop sea transportation.

Retno said that the BRF initiatives are expected to conform to the maritime transportation concepts in each country as well as the existing regional concepts such as Indonesia’s Maritime Axis and ASEAN Connectivity 2025.

In addition, the Minister explained, the heads of state and government of European countries said that the global cooperation patterns have now shifted toward developing countries.

ANTARA