Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
JAKARTA: Malaysia and Indonesia have agreed to set up a joint committee to plan for rural and village development along the border areas between the two neighbouring countries.
The joint committee under Malaysia’s Rural and Regional Development Ministry and Indonesian Ministry for the Development of Villages, Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration will plan and identify prospective socio-economic development programmes involving residents on both sides of the border area.
Malaysia’s Rural and Regional Development Minister, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said rural residents in the border areas of Kalimantan, for instance, already had social ties and in some cases, even family ties with those on the other side of the border.
“Through the establishment of the joint committee, we will be able to together look into economic development opportunities,” he said after meeting with his Indonesian counterpart, Eko Putro Sandjojo here, today.
Ismail Sabri said among the border area rural and village development programmes would be tourism-related activities such as operating homestays, as well as agricultural activities.
Meanwhile, Eko said Indonesia planned to open up 5,000 hectares of agricultural land in Kalimantan.
He said the new agricultural area bordering Malaysia would spur economic activities that would benefit residents on both sides of the border. – Bernama