Germany to extend quality program in RI

Germany to extend quality program in RI

YOGYAKARTA: The German government is likely to extend
the Urban Quality program in Indonesia for another
four years, considering that the continuation of the
program will further help the country meet the
challenges and opportunities of decentralization,
a visiting German senior official said.

Deputy head of the German Ministry for International
Cooperation and Economic Development Franz Marre said
here over the weekend that his 10-day visit, which
ended on Tuesday, was part of preparations for the
Indonesian-German bilateral meeting to be held next
December in Bonn, Germany, where the decision on the
continuation of the program would be decided, among
other things.

"We have had a talk with Bappenas (the Indonesian
National Planning Board) earlier and we have agreed
that the program needs to be continued and extended for
another four years," said Marre, adding that the
program initially would come to an end on March 2005.

The 4.5-million Euro (Rp 50 billion)
Urban Quality program is an Indonesian-German bilateral
technical cooperation initiative supported by the
German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and
Development (BMZ) through the Deutsche Gesellschaft
fur Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) and the Indonesian Ministry
of Home Affairs. -- JP