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AKARTA: A Dutch training program between Jakarta and Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, was officially launched on Tuesday by Jakarta Deputy Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama and Dutch Ambassador Tjeerd de Zwaan.

The program focuses on integrated urban water management and will allow staff from the city administration to spend three months in the Netherlands to learn the best practices adopted by Dutch engineers, practitioners, administrators and policymakers.

In an agreement signed last year, Rotterdam and Jakarta agreed to focus on integrated urban water management, including capacity building and knowledge exchange.

The Netherlands Education Support Office (Nuffic Neso Indonesia) is coordinating the program from Jakarta.

'€œThis program is a perfect example of new ways of bilateral cooperation, in which higher education and the government work closely together in projects and programs and in which all organizations involved contribute something to make it into a success,'€ said Nuffic Neso director Mervin Bakker.

Ambassador De Zwaan said the program was the fruit of cooperation between the two delta cities of Rotterdam and Jakarta.

'€œIt is also part of the broader cooperation between Indonesia and the Netherlands with regards to water. This cooperation is not limited to both central governments but brings a wide range of actors together, knowledge institutes, companies, NGOs and local governments,'€ he said.