Batik Nusantara Week 2024, Celebration Of One Decade Of Pekalongan As A Creative City

Pekalongan Mayor Afzan Arslan Djunaid (Number 2 from the right) is observing batik handicraft products at the 2024 Batik Nusantara Week event in Pekalongan. (ANTARA/Kutnadi)

JAKARTA - Pemkot City Government (Pemkot) Pekalongan, Central Java, held the Batik Nusantara Week 2024 on December 4-8 2024 as part of the 10th anniversary of Pekalongan City joining the UNESCO World Creative City Network.

Pekalongan Mayor, Afzan Arslan Djunaid, stated that the determination of Pekalongan as "The World's City of Batik" by UNESCO is an extraordinary achievement that is a matter of pride for the local community.

"This event presents 108 MSME booths from various sectors, including batik, food and beverages, handicraft products, to book booths," Afzan said in his statement in Pekalongan, Wednesday.

Afzan explained that the batik sector remains one of the main drivers of the community's economy in the midst of the various challenges faced. In addition to facing competition with foreign products, Pekalongan City also continues to strive to preserve the environment from waste in the batik industry.

"Management of batik waste is a big challenge, and we are also facing other homework, namely regeneration of young batik. We hope that young people can love batik and play an active role as future batik," said Afzan.

Pekalongan City Government has taken concrete steps to foster the interest of the younger generation in batik art. One of the initiatives is to hold a batik competition for students from various levels of education.

"We hope that the younger generation will not only continue the tradition of batik, but also innovate to create new opportunities in the batik industry and expand the batik market as part of efforts to improve the economy," he added.

Pekalongan City Government targets a transaction value of IDR 4 billion from the 2024 Batik Nusantara Week event. Afzan is optimistic that this event will run successfully and have a positive impact on batik business actors.

"We hope that the 2024 Batik Nusantara Week can provide great benefits, not only for batik business actors but also for the preservation of our culture and environment," concluded Afzan.