Urban 20 Talks, Jakarta - West Java Gears Up to Promote Role of Youth and Economic Digitization

The provinces of Jakarta and West Java were chosen to host the 2022 G20 Indonesia Presidency International forum series.

The role of the city government is very important

Jakarta itself will host the Urban 20 (U20) Mayors Summit 2022 which will be attended by world city leaders to discuss solutions and efforts to restore cities after the pandemic. Welcoming the international event, Urban 20 Talks were held with the theme Cities, Villages, and Youth in the Digital Age at the Pullman Hotel Bandung and aired online on Youtube on Thursday (2/24) night.

Jakarta Governor, Anies Baswedan who was present as a resource person at the event said that the momentum of the Urban 20 Mayors Summit and the G20 Presidency was very important, as world cities held the implementation of programs launched by the central government. Thereby, the narratives from the city level could be input for further discussion at the G20 forum in the future.

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"The role of the city government is very important, as it is a key actor in implementing the programs launched by the central government. This is because they fully understand the field conditions in its region thus it can find the best way to implement the planned development actions or programs," he explained, as quoted by Jakarta PPID's press release.

He then also provided insights related to the contributions of young people in the digital age. Young people, especially those who live in urban areas, need to be given more space, thus they could explore with digital technology to develop ideas and make breakthroughs.

"One example is we have a Jakarta Smart City, which mostly consists of young people where the results can be seen from one of the JAKI applications which won a gold medal at the 2021 ASEAN ICT Awards for the Public Sector category in January 2022," he explained.

Aside from that, the stimulus to increase youth involvement was also done by creating a third space. The space is used for interaction, which is then powered by technology to make them more creative and productive. Thus it also underlies the Jakarta administration to continuously expand the free internet service network for all, through JakWiFi.

West Java Governor, Ridwan Kamil, who was also a resource person for U20 Talks explained, besides in the city, digitalization should also be encouraged from the village. Hence, access to technology became a supporter of the Digital Village Program in a bid to maximize the economic potential in rural areas.

According to him, the accessibility of technology in all villages in West Java has supported the achievement of the Digital Village ecosystem. “35 million people in West Java already have internet access and 80% already use mobile phones. So, mobile phones are no longer a means of communication but have become a means of production," he stated.

In the future, he hoped that it could be part of efforts to accelerate post-pandemic economic recovery that is equitable, either at the macro or micro-economic level.

As for the information, other speakers at the U20 Talks forum in Bandung were Coordinating Economic Affairs Minister Airlangga Hartarto; Sherpa G20 Indonesia Chair, Bambang PS Brodjonegoro; and Indonesian Y20 Delegation Italy 2021 Chair, Puteri Komarudin.