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overnors from Sulawesi, associated by the Sulawesi Development Cooperating Board, have resolved to cooperate on several fields as part of the regional program to accelerate development, officials say.

Central Sulawesi Development Planning Board chief Bunga Elim Somba said that agenda points included governance, infrastructure, economy, border issues and food.

The governors met in Mamuju, West Sulawesi, where the forum decided to grant the board chairmanship to West Sulawesi Governor Gusnar Adnan Saleh, who replaced Central Sulawesi Governor Bandjela Paliudju.

The Sulawesi Development Cooperating Board was established in 2000 in Makassar, South Sulawesi.

With regard to the regional pursuit of food self-sufficiency, the governors emphasized three products for enhanced development — seaweed, corn and cacao.

“The development of these three [commodities] must be encouraged to strengthen Sulawesi’s food branding,” Elim told The Jakarta Post over the weekend.

Border issues were raised in the forum and participants agreed on the urgency for resolution to stem possible conflicts, he said.

“Referring to regional spatial mapping in Sulawesi, we see several border areas that are still disputed, notably among West Sulawesi, Gorontalo and Central Sulawesi,” he added.

West Sulawesi and Gorontalo are new provinces whose establishments were facilitated by the 2004 Autonomy Law, and are now among six provinces in Sulawesi, including North Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi, South Sulawesi and Southeast Sulawesi.

The governors also reportedly agreed on efforts to strengthen institutional regulations and enhancement of strategic analysis capacities as part of the national program to achieve millennium development goals (MDGs) by 2015.

Speaking specifically about Central Sulawesi, Elim said the province must prioritize improvement in healthcare services, which were gauged as the poorest among the other provinces in the region because of insufficient infrastructure, underdeveloped human resources and poor financial support.

“Government hospitals have yet to optimize their medical services for the people. The local government needs not only to develop human resources, but also must increase the budget for health affairs,” he said. “We don’t have free health services here yet.”

“Except for the Palu municipal administration and Banggai regency, the regencies and municipalities in the province have performed poorly in health services. That issue has become our priority to pursue through the regional cooperation,” he said.