USK Rector Attends 29th IMT-GT Ministerial Meeting

The Rector of Universitas Syiah Kuala, Prof. Dr. Ir. Marwan attended the 29th IMT GT Ministerial Meeting to commemorate the 30th anniversary of IMT-GT. USK as the permanent secretariat of IMT-GT UNINET took part in this series of events which were held from 26 – 29 September 2023 at Ballrom Batam Marriott Hotel Harbour Bay, Kepulauan Riau.

The series of events include the National Secretariat Meeting, JBC Meeting, UNINET Meeting, 30th IMT-GT Senior Officials’ Meeting, 20th Chief Ministers and Governors’ Forum, IMT-GT Business Forum, 29th Ministerial Meeting Plenary and IMT-GT Expo.

This meeting mainly aimed to report and discuss further with the Ministers regarding the achievements of IMT-GT cooperation activities or programs for the 2022-2023 period. The Ministers also discussed and supported several suggestions such as the IMT-GT Ministerial Joint Statement, IMT-GT Implementation Blueprint 2022-2026, and IMT-GT Visit Year 2023-2025.

Besides, there were side events held during a series of meetings to commemorate 30 years of IMT-GT cooperation, including the signing of an MoU between IMT-GT UNINET members and Kurukshetra University, India.

At the meeting, the Rector, as the Head of the UNINET Permanent Secretariat, took part in the signing of the MOU which was held on 27 September 2023 to coincide with the 20th CMGF (Chief Ministers & Governors Forum). Governor of the Riau Islands, H. Ansar Ahmad, witnessed this ceremony.

“As the Permanent Secretariat, USK is ready to support all working group activities of IMT-GT and hopefully UNINET will continue to innovate to carry out projects/programs in three countries,” said the Rector of USK.

This agenda, which involved three countries, was attended directly by Ministers and Governors as delegates from Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. Delegates in this meeting also consisted of ADB (Asian Development Bank), ASEAN Secretariat, IMT-GT Subregional Cooperation, IMT-GT JBC (Joint Business Council), UNINET (University Network), and UNESCAP (United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific).

For the IMT-GT UNINET Meeting itself was held at the Raja Ali Haji Maritime University (UMRAH), which is one of the IMT-GT UNINET members from Indonesia. This meeting was attended by 7 members of UNINET Indonesia (USK, USU, UNJA, UNRI, UNIB, UMRAH, and UNILA) 2 from Malaysia (UiTM and UTeM) and 1 from Thailand (PSU).

The meeting discussed the progress of UNINET programs, reports from national core teams from 3 countries, presentations from Fig Direct and Find Grads, and the signing of cooperation between 4 universities from Indonesia and Malaysia and discussed various UNINET issues. Prof. Dr. Ir. Taufiq Saidi, Deputy Chancellor for Planning, Partnerships and Business, representing USK reported on the development and activities of IMT-GT UNINET from Indonesia.

Besides meetings, UNINET also participated in enlivening the IMT-GT EXPO with the theme “Gebyar Melayu Pesisir” where UNINET, represented by USK, opened a stand showcasing innovative products from member universities and also collaborated with the Fig Direct company which displayed various superior products from superfruits project, also the Find Talent company.