VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The city governments of Bandung West Java Indonesia and Melbourne Australia represented by officials from each city signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at Melbourne Town Hall Melbourne Monday (22/4). The signing was carried out by the Mayor of Melbourne Sally Capp AO and the Person in Charge of the Mayor of Bandung Bambang Tirtoyuliono/ who signed the document separately in Bandung.

The signing was also witnessed by the Indonesian Consul General to Victoria and Tasmania Kuncoro Giri Waseso Assistant for the Economy and Development of Bandung city Eric Mohamad Atthauriq and a number of delegates from the Bandung city government.

A statement from the Indonesian Consulate General in Melbourne received in Jakarta Wednesday (24/4/2024) said the MoU is intended to form cooperation and develop relations that are effective and mutually beneficial.

There are five agreed areas of cooperation namely smart cities economy and trade higher education training and capacity building livable cities and urban resilience.

After signing the memorandum the Bandung and Melbourne City governments held a meeting to discuss educational cooperation the development of innovation and pioneering companies the existence of a multicultural society and the use of technology in city management. Both parties also agreed that the newly signed Memorandum of Understanding must be able to strengthen existing cooperation.

Before the memorandum was signed the two cities already had active cooperation including through the Bandung-Melbourne Innovation Event Social Impact in 2022 the participation of the Bandung city regional government in the 2021 Victoria Cleantech Expo as well as the collaboration of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade State Government Victoria and the Melbourne City Government in organizing E-Commerce and Cyber Security training for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.

As an implementation of the memorandum of mutual understanding both the cities of Bandung and Melbourne will share experiences related to the implementation of daily city operations pitch competitions knowledge exchange arts and culture cooperation student exchanges as well as two-way trade and investment promotion.

Prior to the signing the Indonesian Consulate General in Melbourne also facilitated a meeting between the Bandung City Government Delegation and the Indonesian Culinary Association of Victoria. At the meeting both parties discussed possible collaboration in the future including the participation of the city government Bandung in gastronomic promotion activities in Victoria exploring business opportunities such as exporting spices and handicraft goods from Bandung as well as expanding restaurants from Bandung.