"If we take production into consideration, about 30 percent of NTTs Regional Gross Domestic Product comes from the agriculture and fisheries sectors, which means that an increase in the sectors productivity is a key to its peoples welfare," the president said, at a closed meeting on the evaluation of national strategic projects and priority programs for NTT, here on Thursday.
The president said that the NTT economic growth from 2014 to 2016 has surpassed the national growth and has reached 5.18 percent in 2016.
"There is a trend for NTT to catch up with the development in other regions. But this is not enough; we need to work harder to alleviate poverty, reduce inequality, and open more job opportunities," Jokowi stated.
Jokowi has asked the local government to prioritize the development of infrastructures in agriculture and fisheries sector, such as dams, water reservoirs, ports and irrigation systems.
"Secondly, NTT has become Indonesias verandah which borders it with neighboring countries. In addition to renovation of the border check point, I want to see the development of border areas, including transportation infrastructure and others, to drive local economy," he noted.
The head of state inaugurated the Mountain border check point in the province on Dec 27 last year.
"NTT also needs to develop its rich potential of tourism sector such as in Labuan Bajo, Komodo Island, Kalimutu Lake, and others. To support the tourism sector, we need to speed up the development of infrastructures such as transportation, airports, roads, bridges, and ports. In addition, we need promotion and qualified human resources," he noted.
Development in the tourism sector would bring positive impact to the small and medium-scale enterprises in the region.
Presidential Decree 3/2016 on acceleration of national strategic project includes 10 strategic projects in NTT.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
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