The cities of Jakarta and Beijing have committed to enhancing cooperation under their sister-city program in several fields, including culture and tourism, sports, waste treatment and transportation.

Newly appointed Jakarta Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama said after receiving Beijing Mayor Wang Anshun at City Hall on Thursday that he and his guest discussed extensive matters to boost cooperation between the two cities.

'€œWe talked about sports, transportation, culture as well as business opportunities,'€ he said.

Ahok, the first Chinese-Indonesian governor of Jakarta, who was sworn in by President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo at the Presidential Palace on Wednesday, said the city planned to send wushu, aerobics and badminton athletes to the Beijing Sports University to improve their skills. The city administration will ask for a discount on their educational fees.

Jakarta will host the 18th Asian Games in 2018. Ahok previously said that he hoped Indonesia would finish in the top 10 in the competition.

Ahok said the mayor also donated an articulated bus from Chinese automaker Beiqi Foton Motor Co. Ltd.

'€œThe bus was donated just to prove that China-made buses are of good quality. The engine is also of good quality,'€ he said, adding that one of the Transjakarta bus operators planned to procure dozens of buses from Foton.

Ahok has criticized buses from China in the past, as many procured in 2013 were faulty and in poor condition and he indicated he would not procure any more buses from China.

He rectified this statement saying that Chinese products ranged in quality from low to high.

The governor said the two city administrations discussed the possibility of investment in garbage and liquid-waste management. '€œThey also hope that we will invest in them,'€ he said.

According to Ahok, Jakarta and Beijing have many similarities in cultural and urban issues. '€œOur food and culture are quite similar. The ondel-ondel [traditional Betawi figures], for example, look like Chinese people,'€ he said.

The two cities signed an agreement to forge a cooperation as sister cities in 1992. Besides Beijing, Jakarta has similar programs with 21 other cities, including Tokyo, Bangkok and several major US cities.

The head of the sister-city cooperation section at the Gubernatorial and Foreign Affairs Bureau, Yudi Hermawan A., said the Beijing mayor visited Jakarta to renew the agreement on sister-city cooperation.

'€œThe meeting is part of drafting the minutes of the agreement between the two cities, which are renewed every two years,'€ he said.

Yudi said the meeting also discussed Beijing'€™s plan to help Jakarta revitalize the Old Town in West Jakarta.

'€œBeijing will provide experts to assist us in revitalizing the Old Town,'€ he said.

He added that the detailed cooperation on this issue had not been finalized. '€œThey can send their team to us or we can send ours to Beijing,'€ he said.

According to Yudi, previous cooperation between the two cities was usually related to youth exchanges and sports tournaments.

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