"The purpose of my visit here was to discuss several issues related to the handling of extreme poverty and slum areas in Jakarta," Effendy remarked after the meeting at the Jakarta Town Hall on Tuesday.
The minister noted that he had also met with Governor Hartono to discuss about extreme poverty alleviation some time ago, adding that Tuesday's meeting was held to finalize and evaluate the results of the earlier meeting.
"Several months ago, I had already coordinated (with the acting governor) here. Hence, today's meeting was meant to evaluate and decide on the next steps," he stated.
Effendy earlier noted that every village currently had data on residents falling in the extreme poor category, noting that the data is expected to help the government deal with the social problem in a more accurate manner.
"Now, every village has data specifying which residents are facing extreme poverty," he remarked at the State Palace Complex, Jakarta, on February 8 this year.
He further noted that the Ministry of Social Affairs and the National Population and Family Planning Agency (BKKBN) would continue to verify the data to maintain its accuracy.
Meanwhile, the Jakarta provincial government has stated its commitment to alleviating extreme poverty in Indonesia's capital as a follow-up to Presidential Instruction No. 4 of 2022 concerning the acceleration of extreme poverty alleviation.
"We will surely follow up the instruction. We have already issued Governor Instruction No. 34 of 2022 regarding the acceleration of extreme poverty alleviation in Jakarta," Acting Governor Hartono remarked in Jakarta on July 25.
Through the instruction, Hartono urged his ranks to establish cross-sectoral cooperation to implement programs related to extreme poverty alleviation.
The Indonesian Government is aiming to completely eradicate extreme poverty by next year, or six years sooner than the target set in the Sustainable Development Goals.
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Translator: Siti N, Tegar Nurfitra
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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