Vice Chairperson of the Committee for Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation (BKSAP) of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Juliari Batubara, confirmed that the House will continue to enhance partnership with several countries in the Pacific Region. It is important to increase various feasible potentials, such as blue economy, human development, and sustainable biodiversity.

Batubara said that the Indonesia-Pacific Parliamentary Partnership (IPPP) event held in Jakarta, July 23-24, 2018, was aimed to strengthen the relationship between Indonesia and Pacific Region countries, which is something that has not been fully pursued.

“Through this IPPP event, we hope that there will be closer partnership between Indonesia and Pacific. So far, the cooperation with the Pacific countries is less of a concern," said Batubara during the IPPP forum in Jakarta, Monday (23/07/2018).

The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle politician said this forum play a role to promote partnership between parliaments, not only diplomatic but also economic partnership.

Another aspect, Batubara also requested the Pacific countries to support the sovereignty of Papua as part of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI), because global issues related to Papua can be resolved regionally.

“Papua is a part of NKRI, and of course it is part of our concern to continue and gain support for the sovereignty of Papua as part of NKRI and this cannot be separated from the partnership relation with Pacific countries," Batubara added.

In this connection, the Member of Commission VI (trade, industry, investment) of the Indonesian House of Representatives added that Indonesia's relations with Pacific Region countries should be sustainable. The Pacific Ocean is no longer a separator between Indonesia and the Pacific countries. It has turned into a unifying medium for strengthened relationship in the future. (hs/sf-chan)