The governor highlighted the need for establishing inter-regional cooperation, both between districts in West Papua and between districts in the province and other provinces.
"Collaboration is vital; Bank Indonesia (BI) has coordinated and supported the idea of inter-regional cooperation," Waterpauw said during the harvesting event of the Proud of Indonesia-Made Products National Movement (Gernas BBI) and the Proud of Indonesian Tourism (BBWI) programs in Manokwari on Wednesday.
To realize the idea in the best possible way, regions must be governed by leaders who can establish good cooperation, he added.
According to him, the role of regional leaders is of the essence in efforts to encourage economic growth by maximizing each region's potential so that other regions can benefit from it.
Furthermore, he said that all districts must be able to scout commodities that could potentially be in surplus so that they can be supplied to other regions.
He cited Manokwari’s fish production, Fakfak’s nutmeg, and Wondama and Bintuni’s marine products as examples.
"We have to highly appreciate the districts of Manokwari, Fakfak, Wondama Bay, and Bintuni for their success in determining their respective featured products. Hopefully, this can be a good precedent for other districts that have not made any progress until this point," he said.
In addition to marketing purposes, inter-regional cooperation can also be used to fulfill a region's need for supply, akin to cooperation established between the West Papua government and its counterpart in East Java to improve human resources.
"The cooperation materialized in the form of activities in various sectors, such as inter-provincial trade development and the implementation of education, training, and human resource development programs, as well as cooperation in developing micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs)," he added.
He also assured that inter-regional cooperation would benefit both parties involved in it.
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Translator: Tri Adi S, Tegar Nurfitra
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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