JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesian President Joko Widodo has urged his fellow Southeast Asian leaders to unite so the region can overcome the global challenges it is currently facing.

Widodo said this as he opened the Plenary Session of the 43rd Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit and Related Summits here on Tuesday, Sept. 5.

In his remarks, the Indonesian leader said the ASEAN must work harder to become an “epicentrum of growth.”

“We are all aware of the magnitude of current global challenges and the main key to address them is ASEAN’s unity and centrality,” he said.

“ASEAN’s objective is clear to become an epicentrum of growth. ASEAN has tremendous assets to achieve this objective but ASEAN must be able to work harder, become more solid, bolder, and more agile,” he added.

Widodo described the region as a ship sailing through a storm.

“ASEAN, as a large ship, also has a major responsibility towards the hundreds of millions of people who are sailing together on it,” he said.

“Despite having to sail through a storm, we, as ASEAN leaders, must ensure that this ship can continue to sail and that we have to be captains of our own ship to achieve peace, to achieve stability, to achieve prosperity together,” he added.

Widodo said ASEAN needs a plan aligned with the hopes of its people.

“ASEAN also requires a long-term technical plan that is relevant and in line with the hopes of the people not only for the next five years but for the next 20 years until 2045,” he said.