The websites of The President and the Cabinet Secretariat of The Republic of Indonesia have published a release saying that President Joko Widodo received the Global Citizen Award from the Atlantic Council at the Global Food Security Forum held at the Kecak Ballroom, Sofitel Nusa Dua Beach Resort, Badung Regency, Bali Province, on Sunday, November 13, 2022.
In his remarks, the Head of State said that the award serves as motivation to increase participation in solving world problems.
“Thank you for awarding me the Global Citizen Award and this will further motivate me and the Indonesian government to carry out our great responsibility to be part of the world’s solution,” said the President, adding that he never thought of receiving any award as he only carries out his duty with full responsibility that is in line with humanist values.
“It has never crossed my mind that I would receive this prestigious award. All I have been doing is working as well as possible with full responsibility for the values of humanity,” he said.
In addition, as a diverse country consisting of 17,000-islands, 1,340-ethnicities, and 652-local languages, Indonesia has taught values of tolerance, peace, unity, and cooperation. For that reason, President Jokowi said that he always makes time to see the people and the difficulty they face.
“The most difficult challenge is always faced by the grassroots, by poor families, by low-income countries. Therefore, I always work hard to fight for the independence of these people and voice the interest of low-income countries in various fora,” he said.
The President also stressed that the world cannot be built with rivalry and greed. Instead, it must be built with tolerance, cooperation, mutual respect, and mutualism.
The President added that through the spirit of tolerance and cooperation, Indonesia will carry out its duties as the 2022 G20 Presidency and 2023 ASEAN Chair.
“Indonesia’s Presidency at this year’s G20 and Indonesia’s Chairmanship of ASEAN next year was handed over to me. It will be based on those spirits,” he said.
For the record, the Global Citizen Award is an annual event held by the Atlantic Council amidst the UN General Assembly in New York. Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi attended the event organized on September 19 on behalf of President Jokowi to receive the award.
The award is given to global figures who are deemed to have given real contribution to the world, among them are the late Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the 12th South Korean President Moon Jae-in, and the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
The 2022 Global Citizen Award was also given to the Finnish President Sauli Niinistö, Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson, CEO of Google and Alphabet Sundar Pichai, as well as actor and UNESCO Special Envoy for Peace and Reconciliation Forest Whittaker.
Sources: The President of The Republic of Indonesia website, Cabinet Secretariat of The Republic of Indonesia website
