Jakarta (ANTARA) – The Communications and Informatics Ministry confirmed that the first G20 Sherpa Meeting of Indonesia’s G20 presidency on December 7-8, 2021, was implemented smoothly and successfully with adherence to strict health protocols. “The meeting is the opening of the series of G20 meetings in 2022,” the ministry’s spokesman, Dedy Permadi, noted in an official statement on Friday.
The meeting in Jakarta was held both through the offline and online medium to ensure that the G20 Indonesia Presidency could run safely and effectively amid the pandemic. The ministry noted that 21 delegates were present at the meeting in person, while 14 representatives attended it virtually, and three countries were present both in person and virtually.Strict health protocols were implemented since the delegates arrived in Indonesia until the meeting ended.
They were necessitated to receive the full dose of COVID-19 vaccines, bring negative results of a PCR swab test taken within 3×24 hours, and use the PeduliLindungi app. The Indonesian government also provided a special arrival route for the delegates to reduce physical contact with general passengers and airport officials. In addition, the authority conducted COVID-19 antigen swab tests daily for all participants and implemented the “bubble” system to curb the transmission of COVID-19.The ministry informed that since the arrival until departure of the delegates, the government had held 644 tests, and all of them had shown negative results. The implementation of strict health protocols aligned with President Joko Widodo’s directives.
The president had urged the COVID-19 Task Force to conduct strict supervision on G20 delegates at the airport, meeting venue, and hotel.
“Indonesia’s ability to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic while holding the G20 meeting is a priority to prove our capability in implementing optimal health protocols for more advanced and resilient national and global economic recovery,” Permadi affirmed.