Batam to continue cooperation with Yokohama

The Batam city government said it will continue cooperation, which began last year, with the Japanese city of Yokohama.

Batam city mayor Muhammad Rudi said the cooperation would be continued as the cooperation has been a success thanks to assistance from the Yokohama city administration.

“The assistance includes how Batam could reduce carbon gas emission and economize on power. At the airport and government hospital, power consumption could be saves by 30 percent,” Rudi cited.

He said Batam also hopes that the Yokohama city administration to provide assistance in the form of technology needed for Batam development.

“In seeking to reduce carbon gas emissions, denuded forests are a problem, therefore wee need more assistance to cope with the problem,” he said.

“We are grateful with the equipment but we also need technology to use the technology products,” he said.

Director of the Development Cooperation Department of Yokohama, Toru Hashimoto said Batam is the fourth city in ASEAN with which Yokohama cooperates.

The three other cities are Da Nang of Vietnam, Bangkok of Thailand, and Cebu of the Philippines.

Through the cooperation, Batam is expected to grow to be like Yokohama to become a smart city, Toru said.

“Batam and Yokohama are equally good. In November we will have a seminar on Asia Smart City in Yokohama. We hope the mayor and deputy mayor would attend the seminar,” he said.