JP\/3\/Berlin<\/p>\n
Jakarta, Berlin sign sister city agreement<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Jakarta's governor yesterday signed a memorandum
\nof understanding with Berlin on a sister city agreement,
\nfollowing the singing of letter of intent on April 22 of last
\nyear.<\/p>\n
With the signing, Berlin becomes Jakarta's tenth sister city.
\nPreviously, Jakarta has signed similar agreements with Tokyo,
\nBeijing, Rotterdam, Casablanca, Islamabad, Jeddah, Seoul, Los
\nAngeles and the state of Arkansas.<\/p>\n
The memorandum of understanding, signed by Governor Surjadi
\nSoedirdja and Berlin Mayor Eberhard Diepgen yesterday at the City
\nHall, outlined six areas of cooperation between the two cities.
\nThey were city planning, city public transport system, clean
\nwater and waste water management, housing development planning,
\neconomy and culture.<\/p>\n
Both the governor and the mayor stressed the importance of the
\nagreements, especially because the two cities have many things in
\ncommon.<\/p>\n
Surjadi said both cities are metropolises, have a large,
\ndiversified populations and are directed towards becoming service
\ncities as well as have a high rate of rural-to-urban migration.
\nHowever, Jakarta is a province while Berlin is a federal state.<\/p>\n
Mayor Diepgen, on the other hand, praised Jakarta as a symbol
\nof victory (Jaya Karta) and unity -- similar to Berlin which he
\nreferred to as a laboratory for the process of German
\nunification, where the success of unification itself was a
\nvictory.<\/p>\n
Diepgen said Berlin, like Jakarta, also has problems in
\nmanaging traffic growth and insufficiency in providing jobs and
\nhousing to its residents.<\/p>\n
\"With the sister city agreement, we can learn from each other
\non how to find solutions to those shared problems,\" Diepgen said.<\/p>\n
Both also agreed that the emphasis of the agreement should be
\non economic cooperation.<\/p>\n
\"I highly appreciate the initiative of Mayor Eberhard Diepgen
\nto bring a number of businessmen. I hope mutually profitable
\ntrade contacts can be developed among businessmen of the two
\ncities,\" Surjadi said.<\/p>\n
Diepgen came with a delegation of 19 Berlin businessmen from
\nvarious firms, including three firms specializing in
\ntransportation techniques, one firm in power plant systems, one
\nfirm in computer consultation and one firm in planning
\nconsultation.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, Diepgen said he hoped Indonesian
\nbusinessmen would invest in Berlin, and particularly in new
\nfederal states of the former East Germany.<\/p>\n
Diepgen said that Indonesian investors can use Berlin as a
\nfoothold to expand their businesses both to the east -- Russia
\nand East European countries -- as well as to the western European
\ncountries, because Berlin is becoming the heart of Europe.<\/p>\n
\"I hope business contacts between Indonesian and German
\nbusinessmen will result in real practicable economic cooperation
\nprojects,\" Diepgen said.<\/p>\n
Diepgen said Berlin is particularly good at transportation
\nplanning, and mechanical and environmental engineering and he
\ninvited Jakarta to make use of these strength for its
\ndevelopment.<\/p>\n
Diepgen yesterday paid courtesy call on President Soeharto. He
\nalso met with Coordinating Minister for Industry and Trade
\nHartarto, Minister of Education and Culture Wardiman Djojonegoro,
\nand Minister of Research and Technology B.J. Habibie.<\/p>\n
Today, Diepgen is scheduled to visit the state aircraft
\nmanufacturing company IPTN in Bandung and render a lecture
\nentitled Technology Location Berlin, Perspective of A Cooperation
\nbetween Berlin and Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Jakarta is the third city Diepgen visited on his current Asian
\ntour. Previously, he has visited Beijing and Hong Kong. (06)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/jp3berlin-1447899208",
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"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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