Food inflation poses a threat to developing countries such as Indonesia

Indonesia’s president has said the war in Ukraine must end because it raises food and energy prices and puts developing countries like Indonesia at risk.

“The most important thing for me is the price of food. Therefore, we want to stop the war in Ukraine, and solve it by negotiation so that we can focus [on] President Joko Widodo told CNBC in an exclusive interview in Serang, Banten province, on Friday.

“If not, it will never end, it is dangerous for countries, especially developing countries.”

Jokowi, as he was generally referred to back home, said that the war should be resolved through negotiations and dialogue.

The Indonesian leader attends a meeting Group of 7 advanced economies At the invitation of the host country Germany from 26 to 28 June. Russian news agency TASS reported last week Jokowi will meet with President Vladimir Putin on June 30.

“After G-7, I will visit many related countries [to the] He told CNBC’s Martin Song that Jokowi declined to confirm whether he was visiting Russia or Ukraine, two of the world’s largest producers and exporters of food grains.

The United States and China are locked in a struggle for hegemony in Southeast Asia, with The United States calls the Indo-Pacific region “the heart of America’s grand strategy” China asserts its territorial claims to nearly all of the South China Sea.

Asked whether Indonesia was caught up in the geopolitical conflict between the United States and China, Jokowi insisted that his country is a “good friend” of both.

The Indonesian president went on to say that Indonesia’s trade relations with both countries have remained strong, and the United States and China are both strategic partners of Southeast Asia’s largest economy.

US bilateral trade in goods with Indonesia reached over $37 billion in 2021, while bilateral trade in services reached an estimated $2.4 billion in 2020, According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

China is Indonesia’s largest trading partner, with trade estimated at $124.34 billion in 2021, According to Chinese customs data reported by the Embassy of Indonesia in China.

On whether the quadripartite strategic alliance or the AUKUS nuclear and security agreement that Australia signed with the United Kingdom and the United States last year threatens to anger China, Jokowi said: “We don’t want our region to become a platform for competition.” [between] big countries.”

“We want this region to be peaceful so that we can build our country and achieve better economic growth. Rivalry, not to mention war, will not be beneficial to any country.”

Following Australia’s decision to acquire nuclear-powered submarines under the AUKUS agreement, Indonesia said it was “extremely concerned”. On “the continuation of the arms race and the show of force in the region”.

Coming under pressure over whether Indonesia’s relationship with Australia has soured as a result of AUKUS, Jokowi said: “Most importantly, we want Indonesia and Australia to have [a] A better relationship in the future, in investment, trade, etc., we want it to be better.”

He hoped that relations with Canberra would improve under the leadership of the new Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese.

“We both want our relationship to be better, closer and more realistic in investment and trade. Because we now have Indonesia and Australia CEPA, so this is our common goal, to be open so that goods from Australia can enter Indonesia, and goods from Indonesia can enter Australia,” the president said.

“I think it’s a very good relationship.”

– CNBC’s Weizhen Tan contributed to this report.