Asian mayors agree to improve cooperation

Asian mayors agree to improve cooperation

The Jakarta Post, Surabaya

Mayors from four Asian countries signed a joint agreement in
Surabaya on Saturday in a bid to improve cooperation in various
sectors.

The agreement, reached during the 2005 Surabaya Counterparts
Forum, was signed by Lee Kyu Hwan of Busan, Korea; Zhang
Changping of Xiamen, China and Li Zhizhen of Guangzhou, China;
Eva Aguirre Paz of Marikina in the Philippines, as well as
Chusnul Arifien Damuri, the acting Surabaya mayor.

Chusnul said the agreement was aimed at strengthening the
relationship between cities in eastern Asia so they could work
together to improve people's lives.

"The point of this agreement is intended to improve people's
welfare as the mayors share experiences in development planning,"
Chusnul said.

Three points of agreement were reached in the meeting,
including cooperation on culture, development, education,
environment, science, sports and tourism.

Apart from improving cooperation, the agreement was also aimed
at improving participation among community members,
businesspeople and non-governmental organizations involved in
development.

Surabaya's Counterparts Forum was also attended by
representatives from several cities in the country, including
Bali, Banjarmasin, Gorontalo, Jakarta and Yogyakarta.

Busan Mayor Lee Kyu Hwan said that cooperation between his
country and Indonesia had been going on for decades.

"When Jakarta and Seoul have good relationship, we also want
the same thing between Surabaya and Busan," he told Antara.

Meanwhile, Guangzhou mayor Li Zhizhen expressed readiness to
make Surabaya its sister city, while Xiamen mayor Zhang Cangping
expressed optimism that the two city's historical connections,
highlighted by Chinese people from the Xiamen area who migrated
to eastern Java, including Surabaya, would ensure close
cooperation.