We discussed the pivotal role of education in ASEAN in promoting human resources development, bridging the development gap, enhancing regionalcompetitiveness, promoting sustained economic development, and facilitating friendship and mutual understanding among people in the region.
The World Economic Forum ranks Indonesia 69th out of 104 countries for its international competitiveness, far behind regional rivals such as Malaysia, Thailand or China.
He added that if businesses, especially manufacturers, had to increase wages it could hurt their competitiveness at a time when they have already been losing ground to regional competitors.
This would go a long way toward enabling us on the regional front lines to fully leverage our innovative people and organizations to help ensure our global competitiveness.