REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAYAPURA -- The Chamber of Commerce and Industry for Eastern Indonesia has praised President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) for prioritizing development in Papua by visiting the easternmost Indonesian province four times since he took office in October 2014.

"The president has really given priority to this province by visiting here several times. He wants all economic sectors in Papua to grow," chairman of the chamber for eastern Indonesia Andi Rukman Karumpa said here on Sunday.

The policy would spur the Papuan economy which would in the end have a positive impact on all development sectors, he said.

"To achieve all of these, infrastructure development must top the list of priorities because it will have a multiplier effect on the effort to spur the economic growth," he said.

He said Papua had a wide range of key commodities such as palm oil and coal and therefore, industries in the province must grow.

To develop the industries, adequate infrastructures were needed, he pointed out.

"Industries will not grow if our infrastructures are not ready. We want to build a nickel smelter in Sorong. But because it needs electricity we have no other choice but to develop infrastructures first," he said.

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