RI receives $12.5m aid from Canada

JAKARTA: State Minister for Development Planning Kwik Kian Gie and Canadian Ambassador to Indonesia Ferry de Kerckhove signed on Friday a memorandum of understanding on financial aid for C$17.5 million (US$12.5 million) for governance reform support in the country.

The assistance is to be used to finance reforms, especially fiscal and institutional reforms, in a number of ministries, agencies and related organizations.

The reforms would focus on establishing equitable and transparent methods to handle revenue transfers, expenditures and financing issues between the central government and local governments, in a bid to support the decentralization of authority and give more responsibility to the local levels of the government.

"Canada's continuous support for our reform process is greatly appreciated," Kwik said after the signing ceremony here on Friday.

The Canadian International Development Agency has so far disbursed over C$75 million in support to the Indonesian government. --JP