President Jokowi inaugurates the National Working Meeting of the Indonesian Regency Governments Association (APKASI) at the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC) in Jakarta, (07/12). (PR of Cabinet Secretariat/Seno)
Indonesia has been through five years of uncertainties and many crises, including health crises, economic crises, food crises, financial crises, and humanitarian crises.
The statement was made by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, Wednesday (07/10), while inaugurating the National Working Meeting of the Indonesian Regency Governments Association (APKASI) at the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC) in Jakarta.
“However, we also have to be grateful, considering that our country can build resilience against any challenges. And our economy recorded a 5.11 percent growth in the Q1 of 2024,” he added.
President Jokowi further said that the inflation rate in June 2024 could be maintained at 2.5 percent thanks to good collaboration between the Central Government and regional governments. Therefore, he also underscored the importance of excellent public services as well as swift goods and people mobility that has also contributed to put Indonesia’s World Competitiveness Ranking at the 27th position.
“In the previous five years, we have learned a lot. We learned how to be more prudent and wise and how to manage regions, regencies, provinces, and the state better. We also learned how to manage the budget and to make the policies. Our previous five years have really given us hard lessons,” he added.
The Head of State also said that future challenges will be more complex. Thus, he ordered his administrations at regional levels to be adaptive and innovative in developing their potentials.
“Competition among countries is getting severe. I call on all of you to optimize the potentials of your respective regions. Potentials in the financial sector, food sector, energy sector, industrial sector, and technology sector. For regions with beautiful landscapes, the tourism sector must be optimized. All potentials must be optimized,” the President said.
According to the President, Bhutan has succeeded in optimizing the tourism sector by using high-value and low-volume approaches. He continued that this model can be implemented in Indonesia by optimizing its rich natural resources.
On that occasion, President Jokowi reminded all his administrations at the regional level to utilize the budget wisely and optimize local products purchasing.
“Only 41 percent of the budget in regencies and cities was optimized to spend on local products. It’s a small figure. It means that the rest are imported products,” he stressed.
Furthermore, the President highlighted that gaining state revenue is difficult. Thus, the regional budget must be 100 percent optimized for spending on local products.
For the record, during the inauguration of the National Working Meeting of the APKASI, President Jokowi also officiated the 2024 Autonomy Expo and the APKASI Procurement Network 2024. (FID/ABD) (AP/AW)
