Bandung City Government Discusses Multi-Collaboration with the City of Rome

The Mayor of Bandung, Yana Mulyana said that 96.47 percent of Bandung's food ingredients come from outside the region.

"During the pandemic, we are very dependent on food supplies from outside. Hopefully there will be good cooperation from food or other things that can be collaborated from Rome and Bandung," said Yana.

He said a program like Buruan Sae is one solution that can be developed together in the city of Bandung and the city of Rome.

"With Buruan Sae, the minimum food needs can be provided by our own home environment. Hopefully we can exchange knowledge and share, especially in terms of food security," he said.

In addition, other sectors that will be collaborated are tourism, renewable energy, and waste management. There are similarities in challenging conditions with the City of Rome, making Bandung City one of the areas recommended by the IURC.

"Hopefully there will be a transfer of knowledge from Rome to build tourism in the city of Bandung. Because tourism is our mainstay and biggest tax producer," he said.

"Right now, electric vehicles and their buildings have gone green. We will learn from those who have already implemented renewable energy," he added.

In Indonesia, there are two cities that have been selected to join the International Urban and Regional Cooperation (IURC) program, namely the City of Bandung with the City of Rome, Italy and the City of Semarang with the City of Sofia, Bulgaria.

This program is implemented for two years from 2021 to 2023. The main activities in this collaboration are city pairing and thematic clusters.

City pairing to pair Indonesian cities with European cities. Then, in this thematic cluster, we share the same topic of cooperation in Asia/Australasia or beyond (global network).

IURC Indonesia Coordinator, Dini Laraswati explained, the focus of this activity is the exchange of knowledge and best practices through online and face-to-face activities. The topics for discussion of the collaboration are green deals, urban renewal, public spaces, culture, innovation, and economic growth.

"This visit is expected to increase understanding of the City of Bandung and the City of Rome, especially regarding the development of the urban food system, as well as explore other collaborations with the City of Rome," explained Dini.

Meanwhile, Director of the Department of Strategic Planning and National Plans for Recovery and Resilience, City Government of Rome, Raffaele Barbato said, Rome is a city that has great potential in food.

"Rome is a city that focuses on food. The agriculture is very big because we have a big farm. However, we have a lot to deal with," said Raffaele.

Because, according to him, food issues are things that support sustainability, economic quality, and create jobs.

"In principle, people can get good food. The city of Bandung also has the same view as us," he said.

"We want to share experiences with the City of Bandung. We are here to learn from local experiences. If possible, the City Government of Bandung should also go to Rome to see the potential there," he continued.

Meanwhile, the Head of the Bandung City Research and Development Agency, Anton Sunarwibowo, said that the City of Rome has the advantage of increasing culinary tourism to gastronomic tourism (the art of culinary arts).

"This can develop culinary in the city of Bandung. It can also cooperate in the field of education to improve the skills of prospective chefs in our tourism academy," suggested Anton. (din)**

Head of the Bandung City Communication and Information Technology

Yayan A. Brilyana