PORTALJABAR, BANDUNG CITY - Deputy Governor of West Java Erwan Setiawan received a visit from a delegation from Henan Province, People's Republic of China, at Gedung Sate, Bandung City, Thursday (3/9/2026).

The Henan Province delegation was led directly by Member of the Standing Committee of the Henan Provincial Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Minister of the Publicity Department of Henan Province, Wang Song, along with his staff.

Following the meeting, Deputy Governor Erwan stated that West Java and Henan Province have long had a strong relationship. This delegation's visit provides an opportunity to strengthen this relationship through more concrete cooperation.

"Henan Province itself has been here several times, from 2007 to 2017. And today the delegation was led directly by Mr. Wang Song and his entourage," said Erwan.

Regarding cooperation opportunities, Erwan said the West Java Provincial Government is currently conducting an inventory of various goods and services needed by the people of Henan Province and that can be supported by West Java, and vice versa.

According to him, this step is important so that at the next meeting, the sectors and commodities to be collaborated on through the memorandum of understanding (MoU) will be more concrete and can be immediately followed up with real action.

"Including those from Henan Province, they are very interested in collaborating with PT Ultrajaya (Padalarang), as they visited PT Ultrajaya yesterday and will follow up immediately. It's a B2B (business-to-business) event," he said.

In addition to cooperation with the business world, Erwan mentioned a number of other sectors that are considered potential for joint development, including agriculture, the electric vehicle industry, food, tourism, and culture.

"Hopefully, there will be more investors from Henan who can invest in West Java. I'm targeting investors here," he said.

From a trade perspective, Erwan highlighted wheat as one of Henan Province's leading agricultural commodities. He believes that cooperation with Henan could be an alternative way to expand supply sources for this strategic commodity.

"Well, we need to have other sources if something global happens, like America and all sorts of things, and I think we can tap into China," he said.

In addition to wheat, Erwan also opened up opportunities for collaboration in soybean commodities, which have long been closely related to the needs of the food industry, including tofu production.

"Earlier, I asked about soybeans, which we've always had problems with (tofu production). When soybeans or the dollar rise, it has a significant impact. We'll try something like that with China, especially Henan Province," he said.

He also mentioned the opportunity to exchange rice seeds as a form of cooperation in the agricultural sector.

"That's the commodity. Maybe rice, too, which we can then exchange for seeds and all sorts of things, which we can do with that," he added.

Tourism and Cultural Potential

Meanwhile, the Head of the West Java Province Tourism and Culture Office, Iendra Sofyan, said that West Java and Henan both have the potential to develop cooperation in the tourism and cultural sectors.

According to Iendra, the geographical characteristics of the two regions can be an opportunity to complement each other in developing tourist destinations.

"So they don't have a sea. So, that's why we can offer the sea here. The mountains might be just as attractive," said Iendra.

Beyond natural tourism, Iendra sees significant opportunities in cultural exchange and development. He believes there are a number of cultural similarities that could be attractive for collaborative development.

"Well, I think there are similarities, but what's really interesting is how similar they will be, like Pencak Silat and Shaolin, and the bedug drum is also there, and so on," he said.

Iendra continued, explaining that other potential collaborations lie in the areas of history and knowledge exchange. He mentioned that Henan Province has around 500 museums that could be part of developing cultural and historical cooperation.

Furthermore, Iendra said, cooperation in the tourism and culture sector can also be directed at strengthening business relations between industry players, particularly through connectivity between travel agents and tour operators from West Java and Henan.

This way, tourism industry players from both regions can connect with each other and offer tourism packages that strengthen the flow of tourist visits between West Java and Henan.

WEST JAVA PUBLIC RELATIONS
Head of the Communication and Information Service of West Java Province
Adi Komar