Jakarta and NSW sign sister provinces accord

Jakarta and NSW sign sister provinces accord

JAKARTA (JP): Jakarta and the Australian state of New South
Wales yesterday entered a new era of cooperation with the signing
of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on becoming sister-
provinces.

"We have today formalized a friendship which can only grow and
expand in the years ahead," Fahey said.

The agreement was signed by Governor Surjadi Soedirdja and New
South Wales Premier John Fahey in the presence of Australian
Ambassador to Indonesia Allan Robert Taylor and Chairman of the
Jakarta City Council MH Ritonga.

The five-year agreement with New South Wales signed at City
Hall yesterday is the second such arrangement undertaken by the
special province of Jakarta this year, after forging sister-
province ties with the American President Bill Clinton's home
state of Arkansas.

Thus far, Jakarta has also established sister-city ties with
Beijing, Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, Tokyo, Seoul, Berlin, Rotterdam,
Los Angeles, Casablanca and Islamabad.

Within the newly signed MOU, seven fields of cooperation were
identified as areas which must be effectively worked on by the
two-governments.

Those areas include urban development, investment, trade and
economic development, geographic information, education and
training, tourism and zoos.

When asked by The Jakarta Post, Fahey said that his government
saw the need to forge close ties with its closest neighbor. He
further pointed that as south-east Asia's largest metropolis,
Jakarta has great potential for the future.

With a respectable annual growth rate of three percent, New
South Wales, located in the south-eastern half of the Australian
continent, is the most thriving of the country's six-states.

Despite occupying only one-tenth of the overall territory, New
South Wales is home to more than a third of the Australian
population with about six million people.

According to Governor Surjadi, one of the most important goals
expected to arise from the closer relationship is cooperation on
tackling Jakarta's urban problems.

He praised the planning of Sydney, the state capital of New
South Wales, and identified it as a model to be emulated.

"We should be learning from them...the problems of
urbanization are relatively the same," Surjadi explained.

Fahey concurred with Surjadi saying that even though New South
Wales is not a predominantly urban territory, it faces the same
kinds of problems that Jakarta faces.

Project

One of the major projects New South Wales is currently
assisting is the planning of the proposed Waterfront Development
project in North Jakarta.

The project plans to reclaim about 2,000 hectares of land and
develop a new waterfront where the sea once stood on Jakarta's
north coast.

At the same occasion, Surjadi and Fahey witnessed the signing
of an agreement on trade and investment between Chairman of the
Jakarta Chapter of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and
Industry (Kadin Jaya) Soekardjo Hardjosoewirjo and President of
the Chamber of Manufactures of New South Wales, Roger Pysden.

At a separate occasion yesterday, the Vice-Chairman of the
City Development Planning Office (Bappeda) Budihardjo Soekmadi,
told the visiting Premier of the elaborate plans for the project.

Budihardjo explained to Premier Fahey and his entourage that
within a span of two-decades a new business district will be
built around the waterfront where Sunda Kelapa harbor is
currently located.

Following his meeting at City Hall, Fahey went to the Ancol
area in North Jakarta to inspect the proposed development of the
water front city. (mds)