Indonesia's Participation in G20 Important: Chief Economics Minister

Jakarta, Nov 14 (Antara) - Chief economics minister Sofyan Djalil said here on Friday that Indonesia's participation in the G20 Summit was very important as not many developing countries enjoyed the privilege. "The participation of Indonesia as a world economic power is important. Many countries want to attend the Summit, but they cannot. Even Singapore has been received only as an observer," he noted here on Friday. Sofyan stated the G20 forum that is attended by heads of state and financial ministers only discusses investment and global financial systems, which would benefit Indonesia as one of the developing economies. Hence, the proposal to withdraw from the multilateral forum citing the harm done on Indonesia's fisheries sector is not right, because the sector's problem is a bilateral one and not caused by the country's participation in the forum. "The concerns of marine affairs and fisheries minister Susi (Pudjiastuti) must be discussed with our trade partners. The G20 does not address it. Fisheries is not a G20 concern but a bilateral matter," he added. (*)