President Jokowi welcomes leaders at 42nd ASEAN Summit venue

Labuan Bajo, The Gulf Observer: President Joko Widodo (Jokowi), on Wednesday, welcomed the arrival of leaders of ASEAN countries for the 42nd ASEAN Summit in Labuan Bajo, West Manggarai, East Nusa Tenggara.

The president stood at the Meruorah Hotel lobby in Labuan Bajo, the venue of the Summit meeting, to welcome and greet arriving leaders.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen became the first ASEAN country leader to arrive at the venue and was promptly greeted by Jokowi.

Other ASEAN leaders that then arrived in succession are Laotian PM Sonexay Siphandone, Malaysian PM Anwar Ibrahim, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Brunei Darussalam Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, Timorese PM Taur Matan Ruak, Singaporean PM Lee Hsien Loong, Thai Deputy PM and Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai, and Vietnamese PM Pham Minh Chinh.

Of all ASEAN member states, only Thailand and Myanmar are not represented by their heads of state or government in the 42nd ASEAN Summit.

Thai PM Prayut Chan-o-cha delegated his deputy PM for the summit, as he decided to focus on preparing for the upcoming general election in the country on May 14.

Myanmar was not invited to the meeting, a continuation of the organization’s exclusion against the country for failing to adhere to the Five-point Consensus initiated by ASEAN to resolve its internal conflict.

Meanwhile, PM Ruak represented Timor-Leste in its capacity as an observer at the summit after the country was, in principle, admitted as ASEAN’s 11th member state at last year’s summit in Cambodia.

Timor-Leste’s full membership in ASEAN will be one of the points of the ASEAN Summit, and Indonesia, the current holder of the ASEAN Chairmanship, has pledged its commitment to focusing on preparing a road map for Timor-Leste to achieve full membership.

After the arrival of all leaders of ASEAN countries or their representatives, Jokowi spent time conversing with them and then invited them for a leaders’ group photo in the hotel’s backyard.

Indonesia, the ASEAN chair for 2023, is hosting the ASEAN Summit in Labuan Bajo on May 9-11, 2023.

Under its presidency, organized under the “ASEAN Matters: Epicentrum of Growth” theme, Indonesia is seeking to enhance the capacity of the ASEAN institution to face future challenges.

Indonesia will also lead the region towards ASEAN 2045, which is expected to be more adaptive, responsive, and competitive by the ASEAN Way consistent with the ASEAN Charter principles.