Minister Of Transportation Invites South Korean Airlines To Fly Again To Bali

Photo by Miguel Ángel Sanz on Unsplash

JAKARTA - When meeting with the Deputy Minister of Agrarian Affairs, Infrastructure and Transportation of the Republic of Korea (South Korea) Yun Seong-Won, Minister of Transportation Budi Karya Sumadi invited flights from the ginseng country to fly to Bali again.

"I would like to inform you that Bali has reopened to foreign tourists. I encourage the Republic of Korea (South Korean) airline to fly back to Denpasar-Bali," said Budi Karya, Monday, March 21, as reported by Antara.

The Minister of Transportation said that the bilateral meeting with the South Korean government discussed a number of things, starting from the signing of a cooperation agreement under the framework of cooperation that had been agreed upon by the two countries through the Official Development Assistance (ODA) program, to discussing opportunities for cooperation between the two countries in the transportation sector.

The cooperation agreement or Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) in the form of grants are: first, the cooperation in the Master Plan for Improving Bus Terminal in the Republic of Indonesia and Implementing Transport System (ITS) as pilot projects to be implemented by the Directorate General of Land Transportation.

And second, the cooperation between the Basic Design and Pilot Project of Bus Information Management System (BIMS) for Jakarta which will be implemented by the Jabodetabek Transportation Management Agency (BPTJ).

The MoA was signed directly by the Deputy Minister of Agrarian Affairs, Infrastructure and Transportation of South Korea Yun Seong-Won and the Director General of Land Transportation of the Ministry of Transportation Budi Setiyadi.

The Minister of Transportation further stated that he welcomed the interest from a number of private companies in South Korea to participate in a number of transportation infrastructure projects through the Public Private Partnership (PPP) scheme.

One of them is the LRT development project in Bali which is of interest to KEXIM Bank to provide grant assistance to conduct a feasibility study.

“We have coordinated with Bappenas, which is conducting a study first. Hopefully it can be resolved in the near future, "said the Minister of Transportation.

He also welcomed the South Korean government's desire to support the investment in the plan to relocate the National Capital in East Kalimantan, which will promote the development of a smart and environmentally friendly transportation system.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Minister of Agrarian Affairs, Infrastructure and Transportation of the Republic of Korea Yun Seong-won stated that his party was very pleased and proud to be able to cooperate with Indonesia in the transportation and education sectors.

He hopes that this cooperation can benefit both countries and can increase the ability of both countries to develop further.

So far, the two countries have carried out a number of collaborations in the transportation sector, including: cooperation in the development of transportation human resources through scholarship opportunities for Ministry of Transportation employees to continue their studies at the Strata 2 (S2) level in South Korea.

Furthermore, the collaboration between the Directorate General of Railways and KOICA and the grants that have been given in the context of capacity building programs related to the development of the Jakarta LRT.

Then, cooperation in the Sea Transportation sector through the construction of Shipping Navigation Assistance Facilities (SBNP) or Development and Improvement of Aids to Navigation (AtoN). Regarding regional cooperation between ASEAN and the Republic of Korea, Indonesia has also proposed “On the Job Training Student Exchange ” as one of the activities under the Human Resources Development Program category within the framework of the ASEAN-ROK Transport Cooperation Roadmap 2021-2025 at the ASEAN-ROK Senior Transport Official Meeting on November 18, 2020.