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EU wants to help improve the capital
Foreign diplomacy: Governor Joko âJokowiâ Widodo (second from right) talks to European Union ambassadors during a forum at Pullman Hotel in Central Jakarta on Tuesday
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Foreign diplomacy: Governor Joko âJokowiâ Widodo (second from right) talks to European Union ambassadors during a forum at Pullman Hotel in Central Jakarta on Tuesday. The ambassadors expressed their readiness to forge cooperation with the city administration to address urban problems in the capital city. (JP/Sita W. Dewi) (second from right) talks to European Union ambassadors during a forum at Pullman Hotel in Central Jakarta on Tuesday. The ambassadors expressed their readiness to forge cooperation with the city administration to address urban problems in the capital city. (JP/Sita W. Dewi)
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span class="inline inline-none">Foreign diplomacy: Governor Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo (second from right) talks to European Union ambassadors during a forum at Pullman Hotel in Central Jakarta on Tuesday. The ambassadors expressed their readiness to forge cooperation with the city administration to address urban problems in the capital city. (JP/Sita W. Dewi)
The European Union (EU) is eyeing an opportunity to work with Governor Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo in solving various urban issues in the Indonesian capital.
In a closed-door meeting at the Pullman Hotel in Central Jakarta, Jokowi, along with several city high-ranking officials, met with various EU ambassadors to discuss city administration issues and
programs.
EU Ambassador-designate to Indonesia Olof Skoog said the forum was merely a preliminary meeting between the two sides.
'We want to invite the governor to hear a little bit about how he intends to run the city. We aim to support his goals in improving the quality of life in Jakarta. We very much listened to him about that,' Skoog said after the meeting on Tuesday.
'There was no real concrete discussion about [cooperation] today. It was more about how we can share our experience on many issues that are challenges to Jakarta, [including] waste, flood, traffic and how we can support the city, Jakarta and the governor,' he pointed out.
EU members were upbeat their experience with urban issues in their respective countries could be useful for Jakarta.
'We have mixed experience in Europe from green cities to reducing traffic and building public transportation or dealing with waste management. We can also offer technical advice or exchange lessons learned,' Skoog said.
Jokowi welcomed the opportunity to work with EU members in the future.
'Those countries have hundreds of years experience on issues like waste management, e-government and traffic management. We acknowledge their experience. We see the opportunities but must study the regulations before going into further detail,' the governor said.
Jokowi emphasized the cooperation would benefit the city.
'I want the city administration to lead the cooperation and I want to see a sharing of experiences, technology and systems,' he said.
Gubernatorial and foreign affairs bureau chief Heru Budi Hartono said some of the 20 ambassadors who were present during the meeting also used the opportunity to convey grievances related to the city.
'An ambassador complained about long queues of airplanes at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, which has been a common sight,' Heru said.
During the meeting, Jokowi promised to deliver the complaint to the relevant institution.
'It is not my authority but I promised to convey it to the central government,' Jokowi told reporters.
Skoog expected to further discuss the details of potential cooperation with the governor.
'We will follow up and see. We are ready to help in various ways so I'm sure there will be more concrete discussions in the future,' he explained.
Also on Tuesday, Deputy Governor Basuki 'Ahok' Tjahaja Purnama met with Vice President Boediono and relevant ministers to discuss traffic-alleviation programs.
'The forum agreed to establish a Greater Jakarta Transportation Authority. The central government has also agreed to waive import tax for public buses,' he said.
