Indonesia to intensify diplomacy, anticipate economic impacts of Middle East tensions

2024-04-17T13:14:45+07:00

VOInews, Jakarta: Indonesia continues to make diplomatic efforts to defuse geopolitical tensions in the Middle East that have occurred recently, said Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Retno Marsudi. It was especially amid the recent tension between Israel and Iran in a past few days.

Minister Retno stated that she had carried out intensive communication with world leaders. Minister Retno also explained that in the last two days, she communicated by telephone and exchanged messages to emphasize the importance of restraint and defuse conflict tensions.

“...Two things we convey in all communications. With the parties directly involved, what we are asking for is self-restraint and de-escalation, the importance of de-escalation," she said in a press statement after attending a meeting with Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Tuesday (16/4/2024).

The leaders included the ministers of foreign affairs from Iran, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and the European Union. Besides that, ministers of foreign affairs from Germany and the Netherlands, as well as the Deputy Secretary of State of the United States are also contacted by her.

"Meanwhile with our other friends, for example with the foreign ministers of Germany, the Netherlands, and Middle Eastern countries, we are encouraging everyone, we use our influence to prevent escalation,” she continued.

Minister Retno Marsudi also explained that diplomatic efforts had been made in international forums, including at the UN Security Council, although they had not yet produced significant progress. Furthermore, Minister Retno added that all parties currently have begun to calculate the impact if an escalation occurs.

Government to mitigate economic impacts

Meanwhile, Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto said the Indonesian government is preparing to mitigate the impact of Middle East tensions on the global economy. According to him, phenomena such as rising oil prices, global financial market uncertainty, and the rise in US dollar value should be mitigated.

“...Of course, what we have to mitigate is the shift of assets to safe havens. In this case, the US dollar, gold and nickel have also experienced increases. The exchange rate and stock price index have also weakened globally. However, compared to peer countries, Indonesia is still relatively safe," said Hartarto after attending the same meeting.

Minister Hartarto said further that the government will execute some economic policies to mitigate the impact. That includes fiscal and monetary integration, maintaining exchange rate stability.

"Of course, we need to implement several policies, including fiscal and monetary integration, maintaining exchange rate stability, maintaining the state budget and revenue, and monitoring increases in logistics and oil prices,” he continued.

Minister Airlangga also said that the government continues to carry out structural reforms, maintain investors' expectations, and strengthen competitiveness to attract long-term investment to the country.

UN Security Council Fails to Create a Resolution for Palestine

2024-03-25T17:49:04+07:00

The UN security council again failed to make a peace resolution in Palestine. Finally, the United States (US) on Friday (22/3) submitted a draft, stating that the Security Council would support the importance of an immediate and sustainable ceasefire and, for the first time, condemned Hamas attack on October 7.

The resolution offer was vetoed by Russia and China. Russia believed that the US resolution did not emphasize anything to restrain Israel and provided opportunities for Israeli impunity for its atrocities in Palestine.

Meanwhile, China thinks the US draft avoided the most central issue, namely a ceasefire, through ambiguous language. The resolution is also considered not to provide an answer to the realization of a ceasefire in the short term.

Russia, China and Algeria will submit a tougher draft resolution. The draft was originally planned to be discussed on Saturday (23/3) but was postponed until Monday (25/3).

The number of victims resulting from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has now reached more than 32,000 deaths. This figure continues to creep up in line with the failure to achieve a peaceful resolution between Israel and Palestine by the UN Security Council.

A number of negotiations have been carried out facilitated by Egypt and Qatar, but up to now, no clear point has been reached that would result in peace and a ceasefire in Palestine.

The failure of the UN Security Council to produce a peace resolution for Palestine has again raised questions about the institution's credibility.

Security Council reform is also one of the things that needs to be encouraged again considering the failure of the UN Security Council to produce a peace agreement for Palestine and Israel.

The UN Security Council is an institution established to ensure international peace and security. Its members consisted of the Allies that won World War II, namely the United States, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and China, and then added six non-permanent members elected by the general assembly. However, since the end of World War II until now the world has changed a lot. So there needs to be adjustments or reforms.

Various parties including the Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres have often raised the UN Security Council reform issue.

The UN Security Council must contain countries that have a high commitment to world peace and can use their power to create it. This institution should not filled by countries that have dual interests and prioritize unilateral interests.

The Palestinian people were currently looking forward to the success of efforts to achieve peace so that they can recover and recover from the trauma caused by the Israeli-Palestinian war. They needed immediate assistance to face various threats caused by the war including hunger and death.

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Indonesia to intensify diplomacy, anticipate economic impacts of Middle East tensions

UN Security Council Fails to Create a Resolution for Palestine