"Alignment of vision and policy stakeholders at the national level is the key to success in championing the interests of Indonesia in the framework of ASEAN cooperation with dialogue partners," thus is the essence of the discussion in the activities of the Focus Group Discussion (FGD) with the theme "Aligning Implementation of Indonesia Foreign Policy in the Fora of ASEAN Cooperation and Dialogue Partners ". FGD was organized by the Directorate General of ASEAN Cooperation, the Directorate of Dialogue Partners and Inter-Region, held at the Ritz Carlton, Mega Kuningan, Jakarta, (15-16/04/2012).
The event, which was opened by Acting Director General for ASEAN Cooperation Ambassador Suprapto Martosetomo, presented a variety of speakers from government and non-governmental organizations, such as Ambassador Ngurah Swajaya (Indonesia Permanent Representative for ASEAN), Faith Pambagio (KPI Director General - Ministry of Trade), Rafendi Djamin (representative of Indonesia in ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights ), Rizal Sukma (CSIS), Connie R. Bakrie (University of Indonesia), and Tirta Mursitama (Bina Nusantara University).
In addition, also attending the event are the Eminent Persons of Indonesia to East Asia Vision Group II, Jusuf Wanandi, under the framework of ASEAN Plus Three and ASEAN-India cooperation Ambassador Donnilo Anwar, and ASEAN-US Eminent Person Ambassador Robert Inkiriwang.
In his speech, Ambassador Suprapto stressed the importance of the ideas of the related informants and representatives of various agencies for Indonesia Eminent Persons in each forum.
"As per its mandate, the Eminent Persons will deliver their recommendations on the ASEAN efforts to increase cooperation with India, the U.S. and the Plus Three countries to the Heads of State / Government at the related Summit this year," added Ambassador Suprapto.
Furthermore, present as a speaker, Ambassador Ngurah Swajaya highlighted on a number of ASEAN internal issues that still need solving, such as borders, the implementation of the ASEAN Charter and Blueprint as well as the coherence and coordination of ASEAN organs.
In addition, Ambassador Swajaya also emphasized the importance of cooperation with ASEAN Dialogue Partners which intensified recently and the issue of cooperation in the field of food security, energy security and water security which is strengthening.
This is also supported by the opinion of Connie R. Bakrie which underlines the importance of the element of energy, especially oil, as a safety factor that affects the stability and dynamics of cooperation in ASEAN, and ASEAN cooperation with dialogue partners.
Moreover, he also added that the strengthening of the maritime sector is an important factor in supporting Indonesia's diplomacy in the region.
In delivering his view, the representative of Indonesia for AICHR, Rafendi Djamin stated that ASEAN cooperation with partners in the field of political speech and security, especially human rights and democracy is still very much on papers only.
"It has not been able to be implemented to be more concrete cooperation projects," he added.
On the other hand, Jusuf Wanandi said that ASEAN cooperation with dialogue partners, particularly the ASEAN Plus Three has evolved into a forum that has much to contribute to the Southeast Asia region. Jusuf, in this case, specifically highlights the economic and financial fields, and the enactment of CMIM and AMRO for ASEAN Plus Three mechanism which have been agreed.
Jusuf Wanandi also stated that the existence of a network of think tanks and relevant stakeholders at the national level is necessary in order to continue to provide input and recommendations of the position of Indonesia in the framework of ASEAN Plus Three cooperation.
Looking further from the side of ASEAN cooperation - U.S., ASEAN-India and ASEAN Plus Three, Rizal Sukma stressed the importance of looking for uniqueness of each partnership with the East Asia Vision Group II. According to Rizal, with the East Asia Vision Group II, ASEAN is able to maximize its interests in cooperation with related dialogue partners.
"In the context of cooperation with dialogue partners, ASEAN needs to maintain regional autonomy in the region of Southeast Asia, and put forward the concept of dynamic equilibrium," said the CSIS investigators.
Cooperation between the government and the private sector was also delivered by one speaker. As academics, Tirta N. Mursitama, saw the need for strengthening Indonesia economic diplomacy based on MP3EI. According to him, this can be done through increased government cooperation (especially diplomats) with business people (private sector).
Furthermore, as one representative of Eminent Persons, the Ambassador Donnilo Anwar conveyed the importance of handling ASEAN cooperation with dialogue partners carefully.
"We also need to look at agendas of dialogue partner countries in Southeast Asia," Ambassador Donilo confirmed.
The results of focus group discussion of this plan will be formulated as a recommendation to the Eminent Persons who will review and evaluate the ASEAN partnership and dialogue partners. This recommendation will be applied in concrete actions to deepen and broaden ASEAN – dialogue partners partnership.
Such FGD activity is planned to be held periodically in the future to continue to get input from various stakeholders elements. (Source: Dit. MWAK / SW-DR / Ed. PY).