Wangiwangi, Southeast Sulawesi, Sept 5 (Antara News) - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) cancelled his planned Saturday`s visit to Wakatobi, Southeast Sulawesi, to open the United Cities and Local Governments Asia-Pacific (UCLG-ASPAC) meeting that will continue from September 5 to 7, 2015.
"The president cancelled his visit to Wakatobi because of state duties in Jakarta that he cannot abandon," Wakatobi District Head Hugua said here on Saturday.
He added that due to President Jokowi`s absence, the UCLG-ASPAC meeting will be opened by its President, Wong Hee-ryong, who has been in Wakatobi since Friday.
"UCLG-ASPAC President Wong Hee-ryong from South Korea will open the meeting, in which numerous important issues about the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) will be discussed," Hugua noted.
The UN-HABITAT is the United Nations agency that has been mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities to provide adequate shelter for all.
"We hope the discussion on numerous important issues can give birth to a commitment to supporting a sustainable urban development and the idea of a `new urban agenda," he noted.
The UCLG-ASPAC meeting will include 176 regional heads from Asia Pacific countries, including Jakarta Deputy Governor Djarot Saiful Hidayat; the Mayor of Guangzhou, Cai Chaolin; the Deputy Mayor of Kazan, Ivan Kuznetsov; and the Mayor of Katbalogan, Stephany Uy-Than.
Hugua expressed his hope that by hosting the UCLG-ASPAC meeting, Wakatobi could become more well-known throughout the world, since the participants of the meeting consist of mayors and district heads from Asia Pacific countries.
In the meantime, East Nusa Tenggara Governor Frans Lebu Raya said in Kupang on Friday that President Jokowi also cancelled his visit to the Sikka district town of Maumere on Saturday to inaugurate the 18th congress of the Indonesian National Students Movement (GMNI).
"I have just received information from the presidential palace in Jakarta that President Jokowi could not visit Maumere on Saturday to open the GMNI congress," the governor remarked.
He reiterated that the plan was likely changed, taking into account the current national situation and that the president decided not to leave Jakarta.
