Minister promotes economic potential of transmigration areas to China

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Transmigration Minister Iftitah Sulaiman Suryanagara invited Chinese Ambassador to Indonesia Wang Lutong to visit several transmigration areas in Papua, Maluku, and Nusa Tenggara from June 2-5, to promote the economic potential of those regions.

The visit was part of efforts to explore opportunities for cooperation between Indonesia and China in the areas of food security, poverty alleviation, vocational education, trade, investment, and tourism development.

"Transmigration areas have vast land resources, human capital, and tremendous economic potential," Suryanagara said in an official statement received here on Thursday.

"What we are developing are not merely residential areas, but new centers of economic growth capable of creating jobs, increasing productivity, and improving public welfare," he added.

The first visit was conducted in the Salor Transmigration Area in Merauke District, South Papua, one of the country's food production centers with more than 60 thousand hectares of rice fields that play an important role in supporting the national food self-sufficiency program.

During the visit, Minister Suryanagara and Ambassador Wang inspected a site planned to become the center of area development cooperation through a grant from the Chinese government.

The development plan includes a rice development and research center, an agricultural vocational school, and a poverty alleviation center, which are expected to serve as a model for development based on improving productivity and community welfare.

The delegation then visited a transmigration area in Raja Ampat, Southwest Papua, to observe the region's economic development potential while exploring opportunities for cooperation in promoting tourism to Chinese travelers, one of the world's largest international tourism markets.

The delegation also traveled to North Halmahera, North Maluku, to inspect a transmigration area with potential for exports and downstream development of coconut-based commodities.

"Incoming investment must provide direct benefits to the public. It must create jobs, improve skills, expand market access, increase productivity, and ultimately improve the welfare of people in transmigration areas as well as surrounding local communities," Suryanagara said.

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Translator: Uyu, Kenzu

Editor: Azis Kurmala

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