More than 60 meetings were scheduled over the three days of the summit, in anticipation of the approval of a series of documents, some of which related to what Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi regards as a “huge regional challenge”.

In addition to issues such as the economy, environment and growing regional integration, the leaders of ASEAN member countries, including Timor-Leste as an observer and represented by the Prime Minister, Xanana Gusmão, will also analyze the situation in Myanmar (formerly Burma). ).

The military junta, which has ruled Myanmar since 2021, was again barred from participating in leaders’ meetings.

In addition to ASEAN leaders and representatives of nine international organizations, representatives of the regional partner organizations namely South Korea, Japan, India, China, Australia, Canada, Russia and the United States will also be in Jakarta.

Leaders of various international organizations such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the United Nations represented by Secretary General António Guterres will also participate in the meeting.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo will chair at least 12 long meetings, including summits with China, South Korea, Japan, the United States, Canada, as well as participate in several bilateral meetings.

On the final day of the Summit, scheduled ASEAN meetings with external partners, India, Australia, the United Nations and East Asia Summit members.

Extensive work schedule

Jakarta’s broad calendar also includes several ministerial level meetings, namely the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC), the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), the ASEAN Political and Security Community (APSC) and the ASEAN ASEAN Coordinating Council (ACC).

More than 1,000 journalists from nearly 250 media attended the meeting in Jakarta.

As part of preparations for the summit, Indonesian authorities announced a series of initiatives to combat air pollution, which has recently become a serious problem in the capital.

Remote learning and remote work for civil servants are some of the efforts being taken to try to reduce pollution and, at the same time, the pressure of heavy traffic in Jakarta.