President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has said rapid economic growth within the Indian Ocean Rim has the potential to make the region an economic force to be reckoned with.
Jokowi said East Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, Southeast Asia and Australia showed solid economic growth despite the slowdown in the worldwide economy.
“We imagine that the Indian Ocean is becoming a key region in the worldwide economy. For a thousand years, the Atlantic Ocean has dominated the world,” Jokowi said during his opening speech on the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) Leaders’ Summit in Jakarta on Tuesday.
He also explained that East Africa’s GDP is growing at a rate of 6 per cent, while South and South-East Asia’s GDP is growing at 7 and 5 per cent respectively, and Australia’s at 3 per cent.
However, the president said that to turn into the following economic powerhouse, IORA member countries must solve their problems, including reducing the economic disparities between developing and least developed countries.
“The IORA community is exclusive. It is wealthy, but at the identical time there are still pockets of poverty. We must admit that we’d like modernization in lots of points,” he said.
The IORA Leaders’ Summit is the primary because the organization was founded in 1997. Previous meetings of the group of 21 countries have been held only at ministerial level. Indonesia hosted IORA meetings in Padang in 2015 and Bali in 2016.
IORA members are: South Africa, Australia, Bangladesh, Comoros, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Seychelles, Singapore, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand and Yemen.
The seven dialogue partners are: China, France, Japan, the United States, Egypt, Germany and the United Kingdom.
Source: The Jakarta Post
