BNP2TK To Improve Migrant Workers' Economic Empowerment

Jakarta, July 26 (ANTARA) - The Agency for the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (BNP2TKI) is committed to improving Indonesian migrant workers (TKI) economic empowerment. "After becoming TKI, they must be more prosperous than before," BNP2TKI Chief Moh Jumhur Hidayat said in Medan, North Sumatra, on Thursday, the third day of his Ramadan safari to Aceh, North Sumatra, Riau, and Kepri (Riau Islands) from July 24 to August 3, 2012. Jumhur said he was really grateful for the role of TKI to help the government overcome poverty and unemployment, besides being able to generate more than Rp100 trillion per year through the remittance. He noted that BNP2TKI was committed to improving the economic empowerment of the TKI through the cooperation with the World Bank and Australian Government Overseas Aid Program (AUSAID). According to him, the funds for TKi economic empowerment program fully came from the Japan Social Development Fund (JSDF) thorough the World Bank, and the BNP2TKI acted as the facilitator and supervisor of the implementation of the program. Jumhur said the cooperation until 2014 would be implemented in the districts of Flores Timur, Kupang, Belu, Lombok Timur, and Sumbawa. The TKI empowerment program which was signed on April 30, 2010 by the World Bank, JSDF and TIFA has had a significant contribution to the improvement of the migrant workers placement and protection.