The Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in cooperation with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), held a workshop in Jakarta on Monday, August 12, 2024, aimed at garnering and sharing ideas for green, smart and sustainable development of Indonesia’s new capital city Nusantara (IKN).
The workshop, themed “Cities of tomorrow: Collaborative strategies for new cities”, featured 17 international and Indonesian speakers and involved 70 participants from various Indonesian ministries, universities, NGOs, research institutes, and other stakeholders. The event focused on three key issues in urban development, namely economic growth and productivity; environmentally friendly development; and innovative financing.
Director General for Multilateral Cooperation at the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tri Tharyat, said in his opening remarks that the development of IKN requires close collaboration of various parties − local and inernational − in order to attract investment as well as gain knowledge, experience, and best practices in urban development.
Chief of the Regional Coordination Bureau for Asia-Pacific at UNIDO, Jie Zhao, commended Indonesia for the visionary and well-planned development of IKN.
Meanwhile, Gita Sabharwal, UN Resident Coordinator in Indonesia, expressed her readiness to collaborate in mobilizing urban development funding through blended financing schemes, as demonstrated in the Indonesia-UN partnership for funding programs that empower women and youth.
Head of the Regional Infrastructure Development Agency of the Indonesian Ministry of Public Works and Housing highlighted the achievement and rapid progress in IKN’s infrastructure development, including the completion of the Garuda Palace and the Balang Island bridge.
One of the speakers, Alfonso Vegara from the Fundación Metrópoli, Spain, suggested that Indonesia should optimize the potential of neighboring cities of Balikpapan and Samarinda, particularly in providing skilled labor to accelerate IKN’s growth and achieve economic integration.
The workshop serves as a strategic starting point that could lead to further collaboration in both IKN’s development and joint efforts to address urbanization challenges. In the near future, Indonesia will share its experiences in developing IKN with other countries at the Bridge for Cities event at UNIDO Headquarters in Vienna, Austria, in October 2024.
