Samoa and other Pacific countries are being offered increased technical assistance and capacity building programmes by Indonesia.
Apia CBD the capital of Samoa. Photo: RNZI/Koroi Hawkins
TheObserver reported that Indonesia restated its commitment to playing an active role in regional development during the recent Pacific Islands Forum summit in Apia.
The Director for Technical Cooperation for Indonesia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Syarif Alatas, said the active role was part of his country's effort to contribute to world peace and prosperity.
He said renewed technical assistance was being made available to Samoa, which recently entered a trade relationship with Indonesia.
Leaders at the opening of the Pacific Islands Forum in Samoa. Photo: Tipi Autagavaia
Mr Alatas said the assistance is usually in the form of training, apprenticeships and scholarships in various fields.
According to him, Pacific countries have become one of then priority areas for Jakarta's international development outreach.
Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama with Indonesian President Joko Widodo, May 2017 Photo: Supplied/Fiji Government
The various capacity building programmes Indonesia offered come in the form of bilateral and triangular cooperation arrangements.
The newspaper reported that between 1999 and 2016 Indonesia conducted at least 182 programmes followed by 1457 participants from countries in the Pacific region.
The programmes were in areas including fisheries, agriculture, democracy and good governance, disaster risk management, seaweed processing technique and entrepreneurship.