Bandung, W.Java (ANTARA News) - West Java Province now officially shares a sister province relationship with the Souss Massa Region, Morocco, after West Java Governor Ahmad Heryawan and Souss Massa Region President Brahim Hafidi signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU).

The West Java governor, in a press release received by ANTARA here on Thursday, said the areas of cooperation proposed in the MoU, inked in Souss Massa on Wednesday (Nov 15) afternoon local time, include the development of the capacity of human resources, particularly in imparting education on fisheries through the sharing of knowledge on fishing, cultivation, production, processing, and marketing.

Another area is increasing trade and investment through business matching in order to create trade connections between the two regions and develop markets for potential West Java products and commodities in the Moroccan market.

"In the field of investment, we will open factories or other businesses for which the raw materials will be sourced from Souss Massa," he remarked.

The governor explained that other areas of focus are developing tourism through two-way promotion by involving travel agents from West Java and Souss Massa as well as boosting small businesses through sharing of knowledge to create compliance strategies to meet international export standards for products manufactured by small and medium enterprises.

"In the field of culture, we will organize collaborative cultural events of arts, sports, and youth between the two regions," the governor said.

According to Heryawan, the initial stage of cooperation will involve a joint working meeting to formulate a work plan containing programs and activities in accordance with the scope of cooperation for the 2017-2022 period as well as drawing up an implementation plan to regulate the activities in detail.

The governor expressed hope that the cooperation between West Java and Souss Massa would be able to offer benefits to the people of both regions.

He lauded the complete support extended by Indonesian Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Morocco and Mauritania E. D. Syarief Syamsuri, who has successfully carried out a consultation and coordination mechanism, so that the relationship between West Java and Souss Massa will grow stronger under the sister province cooperation.

Earlier, on April 18, 2017, the Letter of Intent for the establishment of the sister province cooperation between the Souss Massa region and West Java Province was signed in Agadir City. (U.SYS/B/KR-BSR/F001)

Reporter: Aditia Maruli Radja
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2017