'Administrative City Sejong' Success Know-How to Be Transferred to Indonesia

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] Korea's experience in successfully relocating the administrative capital by creating the administrative city Sejong will be transferred to Indonesia's capital relocation through international cooperation.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Agency for Administrative City Construction held a director-level video conference with Indonesia's Ministry of Public Works and Housing on the 24th and announced on the 25th that they discussed specific cooperation plans, including sharing experiences of relocating the administrative capital.

Indonesia announced a plan last August to relocate its capital from Jakarta on Java Island to the Kalimantan region on Borneo Island for balanced national development and natural disaster response, aiming to complete the relocation by 2026. Currently, 56% of the population and 58% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contribution are concentrated on Java Island, which accounts for 6.7% of the national territory. Indonesia plans to invest about 40 trillion won to develop the current capital Jakarta as an economic and financial center and the new capital as an administrative center, creating a dual structure.

To this end, the two countries signed the "Korea-Indonesia Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Technical Cooperation for Capital Relocation and Development" last November and have been discussing various cooperation efforts. This meeting was held to discuss the implementation plan of the MOU, where both countries shared progress and future plans and reaffirmed their willingness to cooperate.

Going forward, Korea plans to support the Indonesian government's new capital city development plan through Official Development Assistance (ODA) such as the K-City Network and EIPP. Earlier this year, in January, the Ministry of Public Administration and Security and Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) dispatched cooperation officers to Indonesia.

Based on the reaffirmed willingness to cooperate on the capital relocation project through this meeting, the two countries plan to continue sustained cooperation. They will regularize director-level cooperation meetings and consider holding minister-level video conferences. They also plan to hold local seminars involving experts and officials from both countries and conduct training sessions inviting Indonesian officials next year.

Kwon Hyuk-jin, Director of Construction Policy at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said, "We are pleased to share Korea's experience in this national project that opens a new era for Indonesia," adding, "We believe that the know-how of our companies will greatly benefit Indonesia as well." Lee Chang-gyu, Planning and Coordination Officer at the Agency for Administrative City Construction, also stated, "We will spare no support and effort to ensure that the experience of building Sejong City leads to tangible cooperation results."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.