ANTARA and JICA commit to strengthening Indonesia-Japan relations

Jakarta – The Director General of State Press Agency ANTARA, Benny Siga Butar Butar, held discussions with the head of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) representative office in Indonesia, Sachiko Takeda, and both parties committed to strengthening relations and cooperation between Indonesia and Japan.

The commitment was expressed by the ANTARA Director General when receiving the JICA representative’s visit at the ANTARA Heritage Center in Jakarta on Tuesday.

During the meeting, Benny stated that ANTARA and JICA need to reinforce cooperation to enhance people-to-people contact between Indonesia and Japan, which he assessed has weakened compared to the past. He noted that whilst relations between the two nations remain strong, the relationship between their respective populations requires further strengthening.

“Japan should be more proactive in building relations with Indonesia, not only in terms of financing cooperation, but also in people-to-people relations,” he said.

To this end, Benny recommended that JICA strengthen or establish new cooperation arrangements, including with media organisations and media communities in Indonesia, such as providing educational cooperation programmes. “For example, Indonesian and Japanese news agencies could establish a joint fact-checking unit to combat misinformation and disinformation about both countries,” Benny said.

On this occasion, Takeda noted that JICA has several long-term projects in Indonesia, including the MRT project and the Patimban International Port in Subang. She also mentioned that JICA has numerous technical cooperation projects with 18 Indonesian ministries.

“So far in Indonesia, we have more than 100 cooperation projects, including those conducted by Japanese non-governmental organisations,” Takeda stated.

JICA is a Japanese government agency that implements Official Development Assistance (ODA) to help developing countries. JICA facilitates technical cooperation, concessional loans, and grant assistance to support socio-economic development, including in Indonesia.