REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - Indonesia and Poland used the recent visit of Polish Secretary of State of Water Resources Stanishlaw Gawlowski on March 4-11, 2014, as a momentum to strengthen bilateral cooperation in the environmental field.
During the visit, Gawlowski leads Polish Green Technology Mission. His meeting with Indonesian Minister of Environmental Affairs Balthasar Kambuaya on March 4, 2014, produced some agreements on cooperation in green technology, water resources management and waste treatment that are expected to be useful for the two nations.
In Jakarta, the Polish delegation 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.
The Polish officials reiterated offers to establish cooperation in solid and liquid waste management with provincial administrations. Gawlowski said Poland had implemented the technology and only 10 percent of its waste was sent to a dump.
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 countrys 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 and 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.