JP/ARIEF SUHARDIMAN
Thirty-three governors and foreign ambassadors will meet in Jakarta on Friday to forge
greater cooperation under the sister-province program.
Regional Representatives Council (DPD) Speaker Irman Gusman, said the governors and ambassadors had confirmed their participation in the meeting.
“The diplomats will discuss what they can offer, while governors will explain their countries’ potential so that both sides can work together in as many sectors as possible under the sister-province program. The regional heads will also offer their products to attract foreign investment in their regions,” he told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
He said the council would encourage governors to forge cooperation in political, economic, social and environmental sectors, to enable them to better implement regional autonomy and improve their economies.
“In addition to having natural resources, provinces need to improve governance, eradicate corruption and increase revenue from foreign investment, trade and tourism,” he said, adding the sister-province program was a good opportunity for provinces to learn more about managing social conflict and pro-poor development policies.
Irman argued that Indonesia could no longer rely only on country-to-country ties, but must also promote province-to-province or city-to-city cooperation to win competition among countries.
“The competition is getting tougher among regions at home and between regions and foreign countries,” he said.
Irman further said the forum would also evaluate similar ongoing programs and seek possible improvements and extensions in other fields.
He cited for example, that Jakarta and Surabaya had such programs with more than 20 cities in Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the US, mostly in trade, tourism, administration, agribusiness, education, fishery and veterinary sectors.
A.M. Fatwa, a regional representative from Jakarta, hailed the meeting as a chance to evaluate the city’s cooperation with foreign cities. “Such a program and evaluation are needed to empower the city administration to improve its performance and public services, especially in flood, housing and transportation management,” he said.
Jakarta recently announced that it would sign a two-year sister-city program with Moscow, in the hope that it could learn more about disaster management and cultural heritage conservation.
“We signed the 2009-2010 program on Oct. 3, 2008, in Moscow,” said Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo.
The cooperation will span several common interests, including disaster management, heritage conservation, tourism and education for talented athletes.
Fauzi said the administration wanted to learn from Moscow’s methods of mitigating disasters — such as floods, large-scale fires, plane crashes, earthquakes and riots — as well as how regulatory frameworks were applied in those areas.
Jakarta has several other sister cities, including Bangkok, Beijing, Berlin, Istanbul, Los Angeles, Seoul, Sydney and Tokyo.
The Thai city of Makasan in Thailand and Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi are seeking cooperation in various sectors under a sister-city program.
South Sulawesi Governor Syahrul Yasin Limpo said the sister city program was aimed to boost ties between the two cities, whose residents had since long traded informal visits.
“People from Makassar have been visiting Thailand for hundreds of years and there is even a city named Makasan in Thailand,” he said after a recent meeting with the Thai Ambassador to Indonesia.
— Andi Hajramurni contributed
to this story from Makassar.
