People wear masks to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 in Jakarta, Indonesia in March. (Photo: Xinhua/VNA)Jakarta (VNA) – Foreign ministers from Indonesia, Mexico, the Republic of Korea, Turkey and Australia (MIKTA) held a videoconference on July 17 during which Indonesian FM Retno L.P Marsudi urged forcloser cooperation among these countries in post-COVID-19 economic recovery.
The economic recovery should be associated with theSustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Marsudi told the 17th Meetingof MIKTA Ministers of Foreign Affairs which focused its discussion on fosteringmultilateral cooperation to maintain stable global trade and supply chains,cushion the impact of the COVID-19 on vulnerable people, and speed up studiesof vaccine against the coronavirus.
COVID-19 is not only a global health but also a humanitariancrisis that cannot be solved by a country itself, she said, emphasising theimportance of international cooperation and multilateralism in seekingsolutions to this issue.
Today’s challenges are very different from those confrontingthe MIKTA when it was founded in 2013, she continued, so to stay relevant, thefive countries must be able to quickly adapt and respond to the challenges.
It is now the right time for the group to step up economicpartnership and trade among each other to revive their economies, badly hit bythe pandemic, she said.
The FM also urged the MIKTA to be an active force to protectmultilateralism with concrete results amid the current crisis.
On the occasion of the meeting, the MIKTA foreignministers adopted a joint statement to welcome the election of Chairman of theForeign Affairs Committee of the National Assembly of Turkey Volkan Bozkır asthe 75th President of the General Assembly and the election of Indonesia as a memberof the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) for the 2021-2023 term./.
VNA
