Jakarta-Berlin’s 25 Years Partnership
Jakarta U-17 football team is visiting Berlin for a football competition
July 01st, 2019
The state of Berlin has 17 sister cities from all over the world, most of which were signed during the period shortly before and after German unification in 1990.
As one of its partner cities, Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia, has also maintained its well-established relationship with Berlin for the last 25 years since 22nd April 1993. Having cooperated in various fields, especially with their deep interest in developing public infrastructures such as transportation links, water supply which Berlin provided their environmental technology, they celebrated 25th city partnership anniversary this year.
Cultural diplomacy has also taken place at the core of their relationship in the form of culture and sports exchange. This has appeared at the national level while as well acknowledging the importance of cultural relations between the two countries. In 2015, ‘Deutsche Saison (German Season)’ was organized in Indonesia by the Goethe-Institute for two months from September to the end of November including 20 cultural programs in different Indonesian cities. In 2017, as a part of Berlin-Jakarta partnership reinforcement and Jakarta International Youth Program, a competition was held in Berlin that selected German students participating cultural programs in Jakarta while at the same time representing their partner city.
Another cultural aspect where two countries significantly intersect is that they both are football crazy countries. Last year, Berlin’s football association visited Jakarta and held a training seminar where they initiated the Indonesian youth football coaches into the secret discipline system. This led to Jakarta U-17 youth football players visiting Germany this year in June 26th, to take part in the anniversary tournament held at Post Station in Berlin where other youth football teams from Tokyo, Beijing also participated.
