Jean Asselborn, Luxembourg's Minister of Foreign and European Affairs;
Credit: SIP
On Tuesday 16 March 2021, Luxembourg's Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Jean Asselborn, spoke via video conference with his Indonesian counterpart, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi.
The virtual meeting provided an opportunity to take stock of bilateral relations between Indonesia and Luxembourg as well as to discuss ways of strengthening them. In this context, the ministers discussed the prospects for cooperation in the fields of green and sustainable finance, Islamic finance, as well as in the sector of higher education and research. Minister Jean Asselborn also referred to the activities of two Luxembourg companies, Cargolux and B Medical Systems, which operate in Indonesia and support the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
The ministers then took stock of the evolution of the pandemic and the international cooperation aimed at overcoming this global challenge. In this regard, Minister Jean Asselborn recalled that Luxembourg has contributed €1 million to the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) mechanism, which aims to guarantee equitable access to vaccines for all by making COVID-19 vaccines available to the whole world.
Ministers Jean Asselborn and Retno Marsudi welcomed the good cooperation between Indonesia and Luxembourg in multilateral forums, in particular at the United Nations (UN).
The video conference also allowed Luxembourg and Indonesia's Foreign Ministers to have an in-depth exchange of views on regional developments in Asia and, in particular, the development of the situation in Myanmar after the military coup of 1 February 2021. Minister Retno Marsudi shared her assessment of the situation and described the efforts undertaken by Indonesia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to achieve mediation, facilitate dialogue and promote a peaceful solution leading to the return of democracy in Myanmar.
