Social Minister and Turkish Minister of Labor, Family and Social Services Signed MoU

JAKARTA (July 22, 2019) - The Government of Indonesia and the Government of Turkey have agreed to establish cooperation and full commitment to collaborate in the social welfare sector.

The cooperation is outlined in the form of the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Ministry of Labor, Family and Social Services of Turkey. The MOU was signed by the Indonesian Minister of Social Affairs Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita and the Minister of Labor, Family and Social Services Zehra Zümrüt SELÇUK, at the Ministry of Social Affairs Building, Jakarta, Monday.

Minister of Social Affairs Agus Gumiwang said the Indonesian Ministry of Social Affairs was in line with the Ministry of Labor, Family, and Social Services of the Republic of Turkey in ensuring social welfare services for the community.

"Starting with the invitation of the President of the Republic of Turkey, Recep Tayyip ERDOGAN for the Indonesian Government to attend the opening ceremony of the Çamlica Mosque on May 3, 2019, became a bridge for the two countries to build a stronger coalition in the field of social welfare," he told reporters after the event.

The two countries, continued the Minister of Social Affairs, agreed to encourage the growth of community participation and make the needs of vulnerable and marginalized communities a priority on the development agenda.

The Minister of Social Affairs said the scope of cooperation included Community-Based Social Welfare Institutions which provide services in the field of family, children who need special protection, Elderly neglected people, people with disabilities and poor people.

The community-based community, he continued, will be developed on activities that generate income, address poverty and family development. The cooperation also covers the fields of Social Work, Social Services, Community Services and Disaster Risk Management; and the Integrated Referral Service System.

"Turkey in particular also wants to learn about the success of The Family Hope Program. They see that Indonesia is a country that has continuously succeeded in reducing poverty. They are interested in seeing how Indonesia has succeeded in doing that," said The Minister of Social Affairs.

Furthermore, cooperation will be carried out including the exchange of information and experience; exchange of visits; capacitance development programs and training education; share knowledge and best practices; workshops, seminars and conferences; and collaboration for research.

"Indonesia also highly values partners such as Turkey so that they can jointly formulate a comprehensive and collaborative strategy in the context of social welfare such as poverty reduction, disaster risk reduction, integrated service referral systems, and family development," said The Minister of Social Affairs.

The next follow-up plan after the signing of the cooperation is to compile an Action Plan within a maximum period of 6 months from the signing of this MoU.

"Furthermore, we are open to collaborating on other social welfare issues and working hand in hand with the Turkish Government to develop an Action Plan as a form of implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding signed today," said the Minister.

Head of the Public Relations Bureau Ministry of Social Affairs RI

Sonny W. Manalu.