Jokowi: IMT-GT Must Encourage Economic Growth

President Joko Widodo (central) accompanied by First Lady Iriana Joko Widodo and a number of heads of state participating in the 42nd ASEAN Summit boarded a phinisi ship in Labuan Bajo, NTT,/ANTARA

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) said that Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT-GT) must encourage inclusive and sustainable economic growth amid uncertain global challenges. When starting the 15th IMT-GT meeting in Labuan Bajo, East Nusa Tenggara, Thursday, Jokowi said that the IMT-GT trading volume was quite good, reaching US$618 billion (Rp9,089.23 trillion) despite the global crisis. "In the future, IMT-GT must be more able to accelerate inclusive and sustainable economic growth because challenges are not easy, uncertainty is still high, rivalry is still sharp and the domino effect of global economic shocks is still threatening," Jokowi said as quoted by Antara, Thursday, May 11. "Let's spread the spirit of collaboration, especially with increasing the competitiveness of connectivity, tourism, and investment to achieve the IMT-GT 2036 vision," Jokowi added. IMT-GT is an economic cooperation framework that was formed to improve the welfare and economic growth of the people in border areas of IMT-GT countries. Through the IMT-GT cooperation, the private sector continues to be encouraged to become a growth engine. The regions of Indonesia that are part of the IMT-GT collaboration are Aceh, Bangka Belitung, Bengkulu, Jambi, Lampung, South Sumatra, Riau, Riau Islands, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra. In the tourism aspect, Indonesia initiated the launch of the IMT-GT Visit Year Campaign 2023-2025 to encourage tourism recovery in three countries. The IMT-GT 2023-2025 Visit Year 2023-2025 was ratified by IMT-GT leaders at the 14th Summit of IMT-GT at Phnom Penh, Cambodia on November 10, 2022, but its campaign was only launched at the 42nd Summit in Labuan Bajo. This campaign is also one of IMT-GT's efforts to achieve one of the visions in the IMT-GT 2036 Vision, which is to create sustainable, inclusive, and competitive cross-border tourism. This campaign is one of the five main strategies of IMT-GT in the tourism sector, namely marketing sub-regional as a single tourist destination. In connection with the improving pandemic situation, the campaign also aims to encourage tourism recovery in the area, as well as to raise awareness about IMT-GT as a single destination. For Indonesia, as Chair of the IMT-GT for Tourism, this campaign is also useful for encouraging tourism recovery and marketing of tourism destinations, especially in 10 provinces in Sumatra. This is an opportunity for Indonesia to promote two priority destinations in Sumatra, namely Lake Toba in North Sumatra and Tanjung Kelayang in Bangka Belitung.

In addition, this campaign is also one of the efforts to promote new destinations and is less explored in the Sumatra region.