FOREIGN MINISTER MARSUDI: So, colleagues, once again I would like to warmly welcome back Tony to Indonesia. It’s not the first time for you to visit Indonesia, and thank you very much for your strong support for Indonesia (inaudible). The situation of the world is (inaudible), but with all your support, we will be able – I’m sure that (inaudible) be able to (inaudible) our presidency and make G20 (inaudible). And from time to time we try to strengthen our bilateral cooperation. We are a strategic partner, and of course, we have so many joint effort in many international issues, including on cooperation (inaudible).

So Tony, again, welcome to Bali, Indonesia.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Thank you (inaudible). Thank you so much. And I – as I said to the – our colleagues before, I’m really so grateful, the United States is so grateful for your leadership, Indonesia’s leadership in bringing the G20 together – not just bringing us together but leading us, and particularly working to make sure that we recover together, recover stronger. We see the effects of COVID; it’s still lingering around the world. Unfortunately, we also see the effects of the Russian aggression against Ukraine making things even more difficult than they already were.

And through all of this, we share a conviction with Indonesia that multilateralism is a vital answer, a vital response. And we listened to the foreign minister talking to all of us gathered today about Indonesia’s conviction that not a single problem that we face as countries can be effectively dealt with by any one of our countries acting alone. We strongly agree with that, and that’s why multilateralism is so important and Indonesia’s leadership at this moment for – not just for Indonesia, not just for the United States, but for the world – is so important. So we strongly support that leadership (inaudible), the work that we’re doing here today as foreign ministers, the work that our leaders will do in a few months’ time in Indonesia.

So I’m looking forward to our conversation and pursuing that, pursuing our bilateral relationship. As the foreign minister said, this is my second time now as Secretary of State in Indonesia. I’ve been here many times before. The first time, actually, was with President Clinton, I think, in the 1990s. So it’s wonderful to be back.

I do have to say before we meet how deeply saddened and deeply concerned we are by the news coming from Japan about the attempt on the life of former Prime Minister Abe. We don’t know his condition. We do know that apparently he’s been shot. Our thoughts, our prayers are with him, with his family, with the people of Japan. This is a very, very sad moment, and we’re awaiting news from (inaudible). Thank you.

FOREIGN MINISTER MARSUDI: Yeah, and I would like (inaudible) as the president of the G20, on behalf of the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting, during the meeting I also conveyed our sympathy and our prayers to the speedy recovery of former Prime Minister (inaudible). Thank you very much, colleagues. Thank you.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Thank you.

FOREIGN MINISTER MARSUDI: So once again, thank you very much. I feel so happy that you are here today. Again, many of us make an extra effort to make it happen, and I hope that during this G20 foreign ministers’ there is ways forward, and I will take this opportunity to discuss with you, of course, a bit of the bilateral relation, which we – I think we have reached a lot of progress in our bilateral relation, plus as I mentioned, too, on the international issues, and I received already the invitation from you for – I think for next week is it, for the (inaudible) conference, and inshallah I will be there, as usual. Please, thank you.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: No, thank you. Again, I’m very much looking forward to the conversation. This is now my second opportunity to be in Indonesia as Secretary of State, and a big part of that is deepening, strengthening the bilateral relationship between our countries. We’re doing so much together already around the world. Indonesia’s leadership on so many issues, including COVID-19, has been making a real difference, so I know we’ll talk about that, as well as the broader G20 agenda that Indonesia is leading for all of our countries this year. We’re grateful for that.

Lots to be – lots to be said. It’s an incredibly challenging time. We know that so many people around the world are feeling the effects of food insecurity, energy insecurity, climate change, and all of these things are front and center on the agenda of the G20 thanks to Indonesia’s leadership. So we’ll be spending more time this afternoon talking about those things as well. Thank you.

FOREIGN MINISTER MARSUDI: Thank you