SEAMEO BIOTROP Director Dr Irdika Mansur, together with Deputy Director for Administration Dr Zulhamsyah Imran and three staff members, met with the Cooperation Section Head of Bogor City Government Ms Tyas Ajeng Fitriani Prihandari on 26 January 2018 to explore collaboration and invite the participation of the City Government in the Centre’s golden anniversary celebration.

The meeting discussed the possibility of having a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between SEAMEO BIOTROP and the City Government for various collaborative programs and activities. Such collaborative programs and activities include 1) establishing South Bogor as the Centre’s community outreach service site for life skills development of villagers, 2) creating Bogor City as School Garden City by training school teachers at all levels and developing teaching-learning materials on agri-based technologies available at the Centre, 3) development of decision support system for food security policymaking and improvement of existing small and medium-scale enterprises; and 4) strengthening of Bogor as a regional centre of expertise (RCE-Bogor) on education for sustainable development under the auspices of the United Nations University. The said programs and activities are meant to support the Green Bogor Program of the City Government as well as to contribute to the economic and social development of target communities and sectors.

The MoU signing was proposed to be a part of the opening of SEAMEO BIOTROP’s golden anniversary celebration on 26 February 2018 to be held at the Centre’s Convention Hall. The City Government was also requested to help the Centre promote and announce its anniversary celebration through its LED billboards located in front of Bogor Bus Terminal and Botani Square as well as to invite all local government agencies to participate in the various anniversary activities such as the exhibitions, talk shows, and tree planting to be held from 26 to 28 February 2018.

In 2016, Bogor City Mayor Dr Bima Arya officiated the launching of SEAMEO BIOTROP as a Community Learning Park on 4 October as part of the Centre’s 54th Governing Board Meeting.