• Indonesian New Minister of Trade

    Zulkifli Hasan, often called Bang Zul, was appointed as Minister of Trade of the Republic of Indonesia on June 15th, 2022 by the Honorable President Joko Widodo.
    Prior to this appointment, he served as deputy speaker of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) from 2019 until 2022. Previously, he was also honored as the speaker of the MPR from 2014 to 2019.

  • G20 in Bali, Indonesia

    G20 was founded in1999 after the Asian financial crisis to discuss global economic and financial issues. The forum has met every year, and on November 15-16 in this year, 19 countries and the European Union gathered Bali and 9 countries were invited as a guest in Bali, Indonesia. This year was the first G20 since Russia has invaded Ukraine. Western countries pushed pressure to withdraw the invitation to President Putin and expel Russia from the group. Officials announced Putin would not attend the meeting in person but virtually, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would represent Putin on the island of Bali. Indonesian G20 Presidency theme was –Recover Together, Recover Stronger.

    G20 (https://www.g20.org/en/)
    G20 Indonesia 2022 (https://indonesia.go.id/g20/?lang=2)
    G20 Bali Leader’s Declaration.” White House. Government. November 16, 2022
    (http://whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/11/16/g20-bali-leaders-declaratio
    n/
    )
    Russia’s Putin will not attend the G20 summit in Bali in person.” REUTERS. November 10, 2022
    (https://www.reuters.com/world/russias-putin-will-not-attend-g20-summit-bali-indonesian-official2022-11-10/)

    Photo credit: ANTARA FOTO/Media Center G20 Indonesia/Sigid Kurniawan

  • Canadian Investments in the Indo-Pacific

    The biggest investment is Infrastructure Support (Indo- Pacific Strategy) and $750 million were invested. This is for supporting sustainable infrastructure needs. It will help people to improve their lives. Canada is committing $50 million to new Pandemic Fund – a key G20 initiative hosted by the World Bank- to address critical gaps in pandemic situations. Relating to COVID-19, Canada is allocating $30 million in total for mRNA hub. Also, Canada takes seriously sustainable ecosystems and environmental protection which have been caused damage by climate change. Especially, mangroves are one of the most productive and biologically complex ecosystems on earth and play a key role in vulnerable coastal communities in Indonesia. Canada has supported “Build Back Equal” project which was launched after COVID-19 for women to try to make the gender and sexual equal.