Jokowi Urges U.N. To Play Concrete Role In Freeing Palestine

Nay Pyi Taw, Nov 13 (Antara) - President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has expressed optimism that the United Nations (UN) could play a more concrete role in helping Palestine become a sovereign state. "We conveyed that we fully support Palestine`s independence, and we hope the UN will play a more concrete role," President Jokowi stated following a meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, here on Thursday. Jokowi and Ban Ki-moon held a meeting for around 30 minutes on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit (EAS). They also discussed issues related to the Islamic State (IS) and climate change. "We were asked to join other countries in fighting ISIS, and we told him that Indonesia has started that," he noted. He stated that Indonesia has chosen a different approach to deal with the problem of radicalism. If other countries used security forces in their approach, then Indonesia, as a Muslim majority nation, used religious and cultural approaches, he added. "I think it has clearer impacts because if we fight violence with violence, it will trigger more violence," he emphasized. During his visits to Beijing and Nay Pyi Taw, Jokowi held bilateral meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang, and Prime Minister of New Zealand John Key, among several others.