Medan – The 18th National Working Meeting (Rakernas) of the Association of Indonesian City Governments (APEKSI) officially opened in Medan, North Sumatra, on July 1, 2026, under the theme “Resilient Cities, Sovereign Nations.” The opening ceremony was led by the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia, Bima Arya Sugiarto, and attended by the Governor of North Sumatra, Bobby Nasution, and mayors from across Indonesia.
The Chairman of the APEKSI Board of Directors, Eri Cahyadi, emphasized that national strength begins with resilient cities capable of providing solutions for their communities. According to him, the 18th APEKSI Rakernas serves as a strategic platform to strengthen synergy between city governments and to synthesize regional aspirations into policy recommendations for the central government. Various strategic issues, ranging from regional revenue reform, strengthening autonomy, to synchronizing policy implementation with provincial governments, will be formulated as official APEKSI recommendations to support the realization of more resilient, competitive Indonesian cities capable of becoming key pillars towards a sovereign nation.