INDONESIA, POLAND STRENGTHEN ENVIRONMENTAL COOPERATION by Fardah

    Jakarta, March 9, 2014 (Antara) - Indonesia and Poland used the recent visit of Polish Secretary of State of Water Resources Stanishlaw Gawlowski, who led a Polish Green Technology Mission to Indonesia, as a momentum to strengthen bilateral cooperation in the environmental field.

        Indonesian Environmental Affairs Minister Balthasar Kambuaya and Gawlowski during their meeting in Jakarta on March 4, 2014, agreed to explore cooperation in green technology, water resources management and waste treatment that are expected to be useful for the two nations. 

   Having a total population of more than 38 million people, Poland lies in the central part of the European continent, the geometrical centre of which is near Warsaw.

        Being the ninth largest country in Europe, Poland's total surface area is 322,500 sq km consisting of 312,600 sq km of land, 1,200 sq km of inland waters, and 8,700 sq km of territorial waters.
   Poland's environmental situation has improved since the ouster of its communist regime, which has been accompanied by decreased emphasis on heavy industry and increased government awareness of environmental issues.

        The Polish delegation visiting Jakarta consisted of among others high-ranking officials from the Polish environmental affairs ministry, the National Water Management Institute, the Meteorological and Water Management Institute, and two companies' President Directors.

        Indonesian Ambassador to Poland Darmansjah Djumala accompanied the delegation during their visit to Indonesia from March 4 to 11, which also took them to Palembang (South Sumatra) and Banjarmasin (South Kalimantan).

         In Jakarta, they visited among other things the Ciliwung river,  which flows through Bogor, Depok (West Java Province) and Jakarta,  and is among the worst polluted rivers in the capital city.
    When visiting Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, the Polish guests visited among other things the Barito and Martapura rivers, a land-field, and the famous floating market.

         In Palembang, they visited the Musi and Sekanak rivers, a trash bank, a land-field, and the local clean water supply company.  
    Poland particularly offered to provide waste processing technology to Palembang to help it deal with the huge piles of garbage in the city.

          The Polish delegation chief said Poland had implemented the technology and only 10 percent of its waste was sent to a dump.

        Palembang Deputy Mayor Harnojoyo said Palembang city desperately needed such technology because 100 percent of its waste ended up in land-fields.

         When meeting the Indonesian officials in Jakarta, the Polish officials reiterated offers to establish cooperation in solid and liquid waste management with provincial administrations.

        The environmental cooperation would involve both governments, the private sector and regional governments of Indonesia.

         The two nations particularly agreed to focus on river management in Sumatra and Kalimantan, in particular, to deal with the solid and liquid waste.

         Stanislaw Gawlowski said Poland, which has been experienced in managing water resources and treating wastes, was ready to finance environmental projects in Indonesia in accordance with the country's needs.

        The Indonesian environmental affairs minister welcomed the offers, expressing his optimism that the projects would be realized soon.

        "We hope that the cooperation will be realized so that we can share the knowledge in developing green technology," Minister Kambuaya said.

        He expected that within the next three months, results of the mission could be transformed into real action plans for future cooperation of the two countries.

          "I hope this cooperation would help regional governments in managing rivers in their respective regions," Kambuaya added.

         The visit by the Polish delegation was also expected to help Indonesia in designing a Green Technology Road Map now being jointly discussed by officials of the ministry, Indonesian Industry and Commerce Chamber (KADIN) and the state technology development bureau), the minister stated.

        The Green Technology Road Map is a guideline for the environmental-friendly drive that involves investments both by state-run firms and private enterprises in the country.

        The visit of the Polish environmental delegation to Indonesia was a follow up of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on climate change, environmental technologies for air pollution, water pollution and waste management, environmental sustainable development, and ozone layer protection, signed by Minister Kambuaya and his Polish counterpart, Marcin Corolec in Warsaw, Poland, on November 20, 2013.  
   Indonesian Ambassador to Poland Darmansjah Djumala explained that the MoU was the basis for the development of cooperation Indonesia-Poland in the field of the environment and as a follow-up and results of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's visit to Poland in early September 2013.

         The signing of the MoU in the field of environment was timely because in the previous years several Indonesian and Polish companies had signed cooperation agreements in the field of green technology, such as wind turbines, biomass production, and waste management plant, the ambassador said.

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(T.SYS/A/F. Assegaf/A/A. Abdussalam) 09-03-2014 16:15:00