JABAR EKSPRES – Former Dean of the University of Indonesia’s Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB UI), Prof Bambang Soemantri Brodjonegoro, stated that ASEAN’s economic performance has been considered one of the best in the world.
“If we look at the region, ASEAN is one of the economies that is relatively stable, the growth is quite high, the inflation is quite manageable, and people’s welfare continues to improve,” he said in Depok, Wednesday (6/8).
However, Prof. Bambang also assessed that although there are still shortcomings here and there, but that is an asset of ASEAN that must always be maintained, meaning that cooperation or smooth economic relations between ASEAN countries must continue to be maintained, trade continues to be improved, then investment is also increased.
Read more: North Korea “Does not Recognize” IMO Resolution Condemning its Missile Launches
So, he continued, Indonesia’s chairmanship is expected to be an example that Indonesia is now able to enter the world’s top 15 economies, then also the Indonesian economy can continue to grow, now upgrading from lower middle to upper middle.
For this reason, he continued, we hope that other ASEAN countries will also follow, especially Vietnam whose economic growth is very good, so that by knowing each other and cooperating, we can take the best examples to be applied in their respective countries.
He said Indonesia has done a lot, for example, there is an ASEAN Free Trade Area, ASEAN with other countries’ trading partners has also been done. Now it is not only about increasing the number of cooperation but how to utilize it so that the cooperation is beneficial for Indonesia.
“Don’t assume that all cooperation has been completed while there is still a lot of homework to be done when we cooperate with other countries,” said the former Minister of Finance.
