Governor of Bali, Wayan Koster, received a visit from the New Zealand Ambassador, Kevin Burnett, accompanied by his Secretary Patrick Fitzgibbon at the Bali Governor’s Office, Jaya Sabha, Denpasar, on Saturday (Apr 23). On that occasion, the Governor of Bali conveyed the development of the Covid-19 cases in Bali which is said to have been sloping lately so that the government has taken a policy to reopen both national and international tourism to the Island of the Gods.

In addition, the Governor of Bali Wayan Koster also added that the booster vaccination in Bali Province has reached 62 percent and is the highest nationally. Therefore, tourists who come to Bali need not worry about it. Furthermore, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic that occurred in early 2020 in Bali made the tourism sector, which is the largest sector supporting the Balinese economy, drop drastically.

Reflecting on that, the Governor of Bali has made an economic transformation policy called the Kerthi Bali Economy to balance the structure and fundamentals of the Bali’s economy in order to create an independent Bali in the economic field, in which there are six leading sectors namely the Agricultural Sector, Marine or Fisheries Sector, Industrial Sector, Small-Medium Industry/Micro, Small, Medium Enterprise (SMI/MSME) and Cooperatives Sector, Creative and Digital Economy Sector and Tourism Sector.

The Kerthi Bali Economy, stated Governor of Bali Wayan Koster, has been used as a model for economic transformation in the form of a Kerthi Bali Economic Road Map towards a New Era of Bali: Green, Resilient, and Prosperous outlined in the development planning document by the Ministry of National Development Planning Board (Bappenas RI) and has been pleased to be launched publicly and officially by the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, on December 3, 2021.

Responding to what the Governor of Bali Koster stated, the New Zealand Ambassador Kevin Burnett was very impressed with the economic policies implemented by the Bali Provincial Government. He stated that Bali is a very important destination for the people of New Zealand because most of the people know that Bali is better than Indonesia. Kevin Burnett further added that he is ready to cooperate with the six leading sectors in the transformation of the Kerthi Bali Economy. That’s because New Zealand itself, Burnett said, is very focused on economic development. (BTN/014)