AIIA CEO Bryce Wakefield took part in the AOIP Vision Group Conference an initiative of the Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia, to bring together leading experts, policymakers, and researchers from ASEAN Member States and Dialogue Partners to drive forward the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP).
This international symposium deliberated on the operationalisation of AOIP’s four key pillars—Maritime Cooperation, Connectivity, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and Economic Cooperation—and produced policy recommendations to be submitted to the ASEAN Secretary-General.
Conference participants were divided into four working groups to discuss the pillars with an expert from ASEAN member states chairing and an expert from the ASEAN dialogue partner states co-chairing each group. Singaporean Scholar Adrian Ang chairs the maritime security working group with Wakefield as co-chair.
“This is a very useful exercise, and FPCI should be commended for this initiative,” said Wakefield. “The report of our working group was fairly controversial after we presented it to the broader conference. However through patient dialogue, we managed to land on a set of policy points that outline steps for practical progress in the region.”
