Jakarta Provincial Government collaborates with Georgetown University through a memorandum understanding signing at Balairung, Jakarta City Hall, Friday (5/23). The agreed cooperation is related to education, research, and community service.

Jakarta Governor, Pramono Anung said the signing was a vital foundation for Jakarta's transformation. Jakarta is targeting to increase its Global City Index (GCI) ranking from 74th to 58th in first five years.

"The signing is an important step in realizing Jakarta's long-term vision of becoming one of the Top 20 Global Cities in the next 20 years," Pramono said.

Pramono added that with its strong reputation in international policy studies and global academic network, Georgetown University is a strategic partner to encourage improvements in education quality, especially for policy makers and state civil servants in Jakarta Provincial Government.

It is hoped the collaboration will open the way for civil servants to develop their capacity to be more structured, internationally oriented, and relevant to the global challenges faced by major cities in the world.

Moreover, the collaboration will also focus on strengthening research and development ecosystem in Jakarta. At this moment, Jakarta has 37 think tanks, which is far below other global cities such as London by 123 institutions.

"This encourages Jakarta to build a stronger, more sustainable and globally connected research ecosystem," he added.

Pramono hopes that the collaboration with Georgetown University will enrich the quality of Jakarta's research-based development policies, as well as encourage Jakarta's involvement in international research networks that support urban transformation.

Georgetown SFS Asia Pacific Rector, Yuhki Tajima expressed his gratitude to the Jakarta Provincial Government for this collaboration. He hopes the collaboration is able to help Jakarta build a more advanced city.

Yuhki also hopes the collaboration will contribute more in realizing Jakarta as a global city.

"Thanks to Jakarta Provincial Government for giving us chance in this collaboration," he said.