The Asia-Pacific Regional Meeting on peacekeeping opened on July 27 in Jakarta with the participation of about 100 top officials from 30 countries, including five members of the United Nations Security Council.

Themed “Enhancing the Capabilities and Responses of UN Peacekeeping Operations”, the two-day event aims to strengthen possible future contributions of countries in the Asia-Pacific region to UN peacekeeping operations.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said maintaining peace is a significant element of Indonesia’s foreign policy and multilateral diplomacy.

The country will increase its contributions to the UN peacekeeping operations and encourage the participation of women in the missions, Marsudi added.

So far, Indonesia has sent about 2,800 peacekeepers to conflict areas around the world and the figure is expected to increase to 4,000 in the near future.

Additionally, the outcomes of the meeting in Jakarta will be submitted to the UN peacekeeping summit, which will be held on the sidelines of the annual UN General Assembly in New York this September./.

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