South Korea has expressed its interest to get involved in the (development) of the new capital city and the President has welcomed the idea.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - South Korean Environment Minister Cho Myung-Rae met with Indonesian President, Joko Widodo (Jokowi), on Tuesday, to reaffirm the country's readiness to collaborate in the development of Indonesia's new capital city in East Kalimantan.

Jokowi received Cho Myung-Rae at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, in the company of the Minister of National Development Planning/Head of the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas), Suharso Monoarfa; Cabinet Secretary, Pramono Anung, and Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister, Mahendra Siregar.

"South Korea has expressed its interest to get involved in the (development) of the new capital city and the President has welcomed the idea. This means there will be a chance of cooperation," Monoarfa said.

Offering no further details on the form of cooperation, he said that South Korea has experience in developing a green and sustainable city.

"They said they have experience in green and sustainable cities. The minister himself has a background in urban development," he said.

South Korea has relocated its capital city to Sejong, some 120 kilometers from the previous capital city of Seoul.

During his visit to South Korea in November 2019, Jokowi and South Korean President, Moon Jae-in, bore witness to the inking of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Technical Cooperation on the Capital City Relocation and Development and two other agreements.

The MoU encompassed city planning and design, as well as public works and housing development.

It included engineering of construction, technology, and management covering roads, bridges, clean water, raw water, dams, flood control, drinking water, drainage system, waste management, domestic wastewater, housing, and buildings, Foreign Affairs Minister, Retno Marsudi, said.

The forms of the cooperation comprise current information, experience, knowledge and technology-sharing, expert assignment, capacity building, and cooperation in technical aspects that the two countries had agreed upon.

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Translator: Hanni Sofia, Sri Haryati
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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