US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has lauded the Indonesian G20 leadership for trying to secure a concrete outcome at every meeting, including the just-concluded G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (G20 FMM) in Nusa Dua, Bali.
At a press conference in Nusa Dua on Saturday, Blinken said the step aligns with his wish for a concrete outcome at the series of G20 meetings leading up to the G20 Leaders Summit in Nusa Dua on November 15–16, 2022.
“During its G20 leadership, Indonesia has placed crucial and urgent issues to be discussed by influential countries in the global economy. We looked at it together when the Foreign Minister (Retno Marsudi) chaired a discussion and tried to gain concrete results,” he expounded.
According to him, the endeavor has proved that Indonesia has played a crucial role during its G20 presidency.
‘The United States highly appreciates Indonesia’s effort,” he remarked.
Therefore, before concluding his statement at the press conference, Blinken expressed gratitude for Indonesia’s G20 leadership.
He said he believes the series of G20 meetings, including the summit meeting scheduled in November 2022, will provide a concrete result and benefit the global community.
G20 member states need to take steps that would support the settlement of global and economic issues, including the crisis caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the food crisis, the climate crisis, and the food and energy price spike, he added.
Not a single country can solve these problems on its own. Hence, the G20 meetings serve as an appropriate means to sit together to find a good strategy for resolving the issues, he said.
“(G20) represents countries leading the global economy and having resources for which they can do anything to face the global challenge,” he added.
He cited the example of how multilateral cooperation, including among the G20 nations, has helped address the issue of COVID-19 vaccine procurement and distribution.
“Thanks to the G20 member states’ work, we are able to improve access to vaccine products. We can ensure that other countries have foreign exchange reserves and accept debt relief so that the countries can focus on containing the pandemic,” he said.
Source: Antara News