"Indonesia has valuable experience to share on this front with our Palestinian brothers."Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian government is conducting the "International Training Program on Information and Communication Technology Support for Palestinian SMEs Development" in Bandung, West Java from September 19-27.
The training program has been organized by the Indonesian foreign affairs ministry`s Directorate of Technical Cooperation in collaboration with the Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development of the Bandung Institute of Technology (LPIK ITB), the ministry informed through its official website on Friday.
Ambassador Suprapto Martosetomo, a special adviser to the foreign affairs minister, in his opening remarks underlined the importance of an independent Palestine, not only politically, but also in social-economic development so that the future of the Palestine state could be viable and enduring.
"One of the concrete methods to support economic development is through the significant role of small and medium enterprises (SMEs)," he said.
The training program is part of Indonesia`s commitment to support Palestine in building its capacity development by providing training for 1000 Palestinians, from 2008 to 2013.
SMEs create more employment, provide better opportunities, empower local economic potentials and have proven to be able to survive and remain the back bone of economic development during economic crises.
In the period from 2008 to 2011, the Directorate for Technical Cooperation launched seven capacity building programs.
In the current program, there are seven Palestinians taking part in the training. The completion of their training will raise the total number of Palestinians trained under the Directorate of Technical Cooperation programs to 42 in the years 2008-2012.
The directorate also plans to hold training in Ramallah, Palestine, in order to establish more effective training methods with larger number of participants.
"Indonesia has valuable experience to share on this front with our Palestinian brothers while training them in Bandung, the city of scholars, fashion and cuisine", said Ambassador Suprapto.
Palestinian Ambassador to Indonesia, Fariz Mahdawi said that various programs of capacity building for Palestine have been initiated by the Indonesian government and also include those in the framework of the New Asia Africa Strategic Partnership (NAASP).
He conveyed his grateful acknowledgment to the government and the people of Indonesia for their support towards the independence demand and development of Palestine and wished that in the future, Palestine would be able exist in the same manner as Indonesia does.
The Ambassador also encouraged the participants to learn how Indonesia`s SMEs are connected and being competitive.
(Tz.F001/INE/KR-BSR/A014)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
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