Inp.polri.go.id - West Manggarai. The results of the 15th Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT-GT) Summit are believed to be able to improve connectivity and growth in the tourism sector for the three countries.
This was said by the Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy/Head of the Tourism and Creative Economy Agency, Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno, at Batu Cermin Cave, Labuan Bajo, West Manggarai, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), Thursday (11/5/2023).
Indonesia also launched the Visit Year IMT-GT 2023-2025 program as a subregion of ASEAN, which is expected to involve 10 provinces in Sumatra, Southern Thailand, and Malaysia.
"One of the main issues is the downstream of industries including the tourism industry, as well as strengthening connectivity so that the target can further increase tourist visits," he said.
Sandiaga said the three countries are geographically and culturally close. "With the hope that we can achieve the initial target of 60 million tourists with Visit Year IMT-GT 2023-2025 so that there is the potential for additional foreign exchange of 75 billion US dollars. Indonesia is asked to be the leader in this visit year," Sandiaga said.
Sandiaga said he would start by initiating this program in Bangka Belitung and South Sumatra.
"After that, we will come to ten provinces in Sumatra including events in Malaysia and Thailand. Also, connectivity between Batam-Bintan with Malaysia-Johor and several other destinations to increase connectivity from the three countries," he said.
Finally, Sandiaga said, his party will hold the World Entrepreneur Summit event in Padang, West Sumatra.
"Earlier I directly invited the Malaysian PM and representatives from the Thai government as well as the ASEAN Secretary-General to attend the event. As part of the events designed for IMT-GT," he said.
The Malaysian and Thai delegations also welcomed Indonesia's plan, especially one of the pillars that will be encouraged is halal tourism which is raised by Malaysia and Thailand.
"I also brought souvenirs for Labuan Bajo, earlier while escorting the Singapore Government we talked about making flights from Singapore to Labuan Bajo," Sandiaga said.
Previously, Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) chaired the 15th Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT-GT) Summit, Thursday (11/05/2023), at Meruorah Hotel, Labuan Bajo, East Nusa Tenggara.
President Jokowi expressed his delight that amid the global situation, in 2021 the volume of IMT-GT managed to reach 618 billion US dollars.
IMT-GT is expected to further encourage the acceleration of inclusive and sustainable economic growth to face various challenges ahead that are not easy.
(ta/pr/um)
