JAKARTA : The United States’ newly sworn-in envoy to Asean arrive in Jakarta by October to fill a post that had been left vacant “for a very long time”, Indonesian Ambassador to the US Rosan P. Roeslani revealed on Wednesday (Sept 21).

In May, US President Joe Biden revealed his nomination of Yohannes Abraham, the former chief of staff and executive secretary of the National Security Council, during the US-Asean Special Summit in Washington, DC.

In his previous role, Abraham worked closely with others responsible for setting up and executing the Biden administration’s South-East Asia policy, which the US State Department said made him a “well-qualified candidate” for the Asean post.

Ambassador Rosan said he already had lunch with him after being appointed and noted that Abraham could not wait to start serving in his new capacity.

“He is very excited, because the post has been vacant for a very long time,” Rosan told The Jakarta Post at the United Nations headquarters in New York on Wednesday, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

“He’ll come to Indonesia by October.”

A US Mission to Asean spokesperson told the Post on Thursday that the ambassador-designate’s arrival was “another example of the importance the United States places on Asean and this region”.

“I know he is excited and ready to get to work further strengthening the 45-year relationship between the United States and Asean, a relationship that is vital for the future of our combined 1 billion people,” the spokesperson said.

Earlier this week, US Vice President Kamala Harris swore Abraham into the post, which had been left vacant since 2017.

At the time, former US president Donald Trump jettisoned the previous envoy, a political appointee of the Democratic Party-led administration of Barack Obama.

“I had the privilege of swearing in Yohannes Abraham as our next Ambassador to the Association of South-East Asian Nations,” Harris tweeted on Monday.

“Thank you, Ambassador Abraham, for serving the White House with honour and taking on this new role. We wish you well.”

The appointment of Abraham comes five-and-a-half years after the last envoy, Nina Hachigian, was removed from tenure by Trump after he took office in January 2017.

Since then, officials from Asean member states have privately demanded that Washington send a new envoy as a sign of its seriousness in engaging with the region.

Asia security analyst Aaron Connelly of the Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) tweeted on Wednesday: “Since the US established a resident mission to Asean in Jakarta in 2011, the post of ambassador has been vacant [six years, six months] more often than it has been filled [four years, 11 months].”

While the Jakarta-based mission had been led by a string of charges d’affaires, the new envoy is expected to enhance the state of US engagement in the region.

Biden himself noted the role of Asean in Washington’s Indo-Pacific strategy in his speech before the UN General Assembly on Wednesday.

“We’re working with our partners in Asean and the Pacific islands to support a vision for a critical Indo-Pacific region that is free and open, connected and prosperous, secure and resilient,” the US leader said.

 - ANN