“Together with Junggu, so that Kota Lama becomes more lively and becomes one of the international tourist destinations”, was a statement from the mayor of Semarang Hendrar Prihadi in 2018. an international wealth. One way is to establish a sister city partnership with Junggu City, South Korea. Jung Gu as one of the centers of modernity in South Korea with good practices can continue to encourage cultural heritage buildings as one of the city’s attractions. Semarang Mayor Hendrar Prihadi wants to learn and know how everything was developed in Jung Gu and success in developing a city with cultural heritage. Oudetrap is a building owned by the Semarang City Government, which was renovated with the city government of Jung Gu so that the old city becomes more lively and becomes one of the international tourist destinations.
The benefits expected in the implementation of the Sister City collaboration carried out by the city/regency include: exchanging knowledge and experience about development in their respective fields; encourage the growth of initiatives and active roles of local governments, communities and the private sector; improve the optimization of regional potential management; accelerate the friendship between the government and the people of the two sides; cultural exchange in order to enrich the local culture.
In order to strengthen the sister city relationship between the Semarang City Government and the Jung-Gu Government, Ulsan Metropolitan City, Korea which has been established since 2013, the Mayor of Jung-Gu, Ulsan Metropolitan City, Korea invited the Mayor of Semarang and his staff to visit Jung-Gu for negotiate a follow-up plan for the cooperation agreement to a higher level, namely from the LoI to the MoU as the main umbrella for technical agreements between services that will be cooperated by the two cities.
The working visit was carried out on 9-14 August 2015. The Semarang City Government Delegation consisting of the Semarang City Highways Service, Semarang City Bappeda and the Semarang City Secretariat Cooperation Section visited Jung-Gu City, Ulsan Metropolitan City, South Korea to learn, exchange experiences and transfer knowledge in the field of urban development planning and infrastructure development, especially roads and bridges and their associated variables. In addition to participating in the group, the legislative element represented by the Deputy Chair of the Semarang City Representative Council to discuss with the Jung-Gu City Representative Council regarding the synchronization and harmonization of the legislative element with the main executive element in discussing the interests and needs of the City of Semarang in budget allocation and monitoring of government performance. During the visit, discussions were discussed on the discourse of making an Action Plan by the technical services, namely the Bina Marga Office of Semarang City and Jung-gu City in order to immediately realize a collaboration that can be implemented in a real and mutually beneficial way for both cities. The Work Plan was then immediately compiled and discussed by the two agencies until a consensus was reached and finally in September 2015, Mayor Jung-Gu and his staff and members of the Representative Council as well as several Jung-Gu community leaders visited Semarang City to sign the Work Plan as well as a visit. reply. Until the end of 2015 the Department of Highways of Semarang City and the Department of Highways of Jung-Gu had established communication and the Department of Highways of Jung-Gu again visited Semarang City regarding the realization of the program in the said Work Plan. It is planned that in 2016 the Department of Highways of Semarang City will send its staff for internship at the Department of Highways of Jung-Gu and Mayor of Jung-Gu will also invite the Mayor of Semarang to visit Jung-Gu in order to sign the MoU. The MoU concept has been submitted to the Semarang City Representative Council for approval.
The two mayors signed a cooperation agreement ranging from urban planning to tourism. Located at the Jung-Gu government office, Hendrar and Sung Min signed four points of cooperation, namely, first, related to urban planning and infrastructure. Second, cultural exchange and tourism. Third, cooperation in the fields of economy, trade and investment. Fourth, cooperation in exchanging information in education, sports, and improving human resources. Semarang Mayor Hendrar Prihadi said that the visit to South Korea and the signing of the cooperation was a form of seriousness in following up and realizing the Sister City collaboration that had been initiated since 2012. In the MoU there were 5 (five) areas that were collaborated between the city of Semarang and the city of Jung Gu, including:
- Urban Planning and Urban Infrastructure especially Roads and Bridges
- Tourism and Culture;
- Economy, Trade and Investment;
- Health
- Education, Science and Technology and Professional Training.
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